Practicing Radical Honesty

Practicing Radical Honesty: How To Complete the Past, Stay In the Present, And Build a Future With a Little Help From Your Friends by Brad Blanton AUTHOR OF RADICAL HONESTY: HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE BY TELLING THE TRUTH Copyright 1999 Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr CONTENTS FORWARD BY NEALE DONALD WALSCH AUTHOR'S PREFACE Introduction: The Decline of Individual Psychotherapy and the Rise of Therapeutic Community 1: Living Under the Old Paradigm 2. What Is A Mind And How Does It Work? 3. Dysfunctional Family University, The World-Famous School Within Which We Grew Our Minds 4. The Truth About All Cultures 5. Conscious Community and Conscious Child Rearing 6. The Road From The Mind Jail Back To Being—The Sufi Levels Of Consciousness 7. Adults Are Nothing But Large Children Who Have Forgotten How To Play Part Two: Community and Compassion 8. Community And Compassion 9. Radical Honesty About Anger 10. In Praise Of The Old Paradigm 11. Creating Your Life Part Three: Creating Your Own Destiny—The Workbook for Life Design Introduction to Part Three: The Workbook for Life Design 12. A Programmatic Approach To Personal Growth 13. Confronting The Past To Get Complete And Have Energy To Create 14. Planning The Future So You Remain Called Forth From Your Mind 15. On Continuously Being Centered In The Present And Using The Mind To Transcend The Mind 16. The Life Purpose Statement 17. Domains 18. What Is A Project Outline? 19. Sample Domains And Projects—A System Of Organization 20. Reformulation of Current Work Using the Project Write-Up 21. The Umbrella Project 22. Project Development Stages 23. The Story Of An Evolving Project Part Four How to Speak and Listen Your Projects into Being Introduction to Part Four 23. Creating a Context 25. It's A Lot Of Work To Make A New Story, Isn't It? Now What? Part Five: Paradigms And Contexts: The Revolution Of Consciousness Introduction to part five 26. Normal 27. Creating A New Paradigm By Creating A New Context In An Old Paradigm 28. A Sufficient Fundamental Identity–The Living Being In The Body From Moment To Moment 29. The Big Picture—The Larger Context For All Human Activities Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr 30. Intimacy and Community 31. The United States of Being, A New Nation Declaration of Independence for a New Millennium Bibliography and Recommended Resources Annotated Resources for Chapter 29 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1. The Growth of Human Beings 44 Forward Don' t look now, but the human race is terribly unhappy. Oh, not you, of course. You're fine. It's the rest of us that have bungled it. We have imprisoned ourselves in jails of our own devise. We have sentenced ourselves to lives of quiet desperation in punishment for the violence we have done to our own souls. We have done this violence by the simple expedience of lying. We meant nothing by it, of course. We were only trying to get through the moment. Yet by making lying a lifestyle, we have missed the moment. And the next moment. And the next. And in this way, we humans have missed most of our lives. Worse yet, our cumulative lies have cost others. Namely, those who have followed us. For they have lived the Cultural Story created by our untruths. Thus, humans have not only sentenced themselves, they've sentenced entire generations to unhappiness. It all started innocently enough. The Little White Lies of Childhood. White Lies we learned from our parents, and from the world around us. Untruths masquerading as social etiquette. "I'm fine, thank you," when we knew Mommy was feeling terrible. "Gosh, we'd love to come over, but we're just really busy this weekend," when we could see that Daddy had nothing at all to do on the weekend, and simply disliked the Johnsons. We saw others do it – others whom we respected – and so we thought, maybe I'll try that. This must be the way to get through the moment. Only when we have ourselves finally grown up, and then only if we are very lucky, is it clear to us that not only have we missed the moment, we've killed it. We robbed it of any life it had any chance of holding for us by lying and evading and avoiding our truth at all cost. Those last three words were well chosen, because it has cost us plenty. Our lives. Our fortunes. Our sacred honor. It has cost us our very selves. We don't even know who we are anymore, with all the hiding and deceiving we've done. We've lost ourselves in the labyrinth of our own lies. Astonishingly, we can't even admit this. Thus, we commit the highest insult: we lie to ourselves. And so we carry on, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, living our lies as if they were our truth, unable to stop ourselves from lying even when we know we are doing it. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr Oh, Neale, stop it. You're making too much of this. You're going on and on. Really? Look around you. Our governments lie. Our politicians lie. Our economists lie. Our police lie— sometimes on the witness stand. Our educators lie. Our religions lie. Our parents lie. And nobody admits it. Not only won't the liars admit it, the people being lied to won't admit it. They know they're being lied to, but they won't acknowledge it. Do you want to be the one to tell the Emperor that he's wearing no clothes? So not only do we all lie, we lie about our lying. And oh, what tangled webs we weave… There's a way out of all this. A way to a life of peace and joy and incredibly exuberant freedom. Tell The Truth. About Everything. All The Time. Big order? It shouldn't be. But let's acknowledge that it is—otherwise we'll wind up lying about that. It is a big order. Because we've been doing it so long, it's become part of our way of living. We have to learn a new way to live —and a new way to love. Because that's what we're talking about here. We're talking about love. We're not loving anybody to whom we are lying. That includes ourselves. No wonder the world is in the shape it's in. I think we should change all of us. In the With God series of books, I spoke about living a life of total visibility. This means utter transparency. The irony of transparency, I wrote in Friendship with God, is that it produces complete visibility. And complete visibility is all that is going to save us. We've got to come clean with each other. At long last. Or we'll never make it. Not as a species, not as groups within the species, and not as individuals. We aren't making it now – look around you. How do we change things? How do we spring free from this trap we have set for ourselves? We adopt radical honesty as our new lifestyle. I don't agree with every word that Brad Blanton has written here. Indeed, I take exception to some of what he has said, and the way in which he has said it. Yet Brad and I would have it no other way, for we concur on this: the day that we agree with every word of another, without exception, is the day that we have stopped thinking for ourselves. Neither of us are prepared to do that. I am prepared, however, to tell you that I agree profoundly with the thrust of Brad's argument here. This book will give you an incredible ride through the corridors of consciousness, taking you to places not many have had the courage to visit before. That visit could change your life. Neale Donald Walsch AUTHOR'S PREFACE Here's what I want. I want you to be happy about your life most of the time. I want the trail you follow in your life from reading this book forward to be mostly happy. When you finish this book I want you to jump up and Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr nr . All point to the same dilemma. but their lives together are deeper and more intimate. A transcendent perspective comes from thinking and from processing a lot of information (which has to be accurate information. have affairs in secret. and pains and get through to a transcendent perspective. We can go places with our minds that our psyches can't yet reach. many people believe it is possible for them to love more than one person and often do. In most cases. lead Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Because of withholding. We need information about new perspectives and we need to process the information personally with friends to really be able to apply it. a third of all married people do have sex with people other than their mates. They don't tell each other about it though. If both married people tell the truth to each other. not lies). and warfare is still frequently used as an attempt to settle disputes. In most conventional marriages the ideals are clear but the practices fall short. To grow. particularly if sexual involvement with another person arises as a possibility. most people will tell you that they are not in favor of war. Transcending is done by noticing and experiencing–particularly. If they commit to work their way through jealousy honestly. pleasures. and to contribute to the personal and collective growth of humankind in the great conversation about what it is to be human. War and preparation for war remain a completely acceptable exception to collective personal preferences against violence. and to continue growing throughout life.holler and fall down and laugh your ass off. eventually they are able to love and value each other for the shared struggle of personal growth and can deepen their lives together. resistance within (the individual self) and without (other people and other social structures) to new transcendent perspectives. appreciations. Other examples are abundant. and stay with each other and share all the resentments. this is not the case. According to reliable surveys. while war persists. and avoid the suffering of personal growth in favor of the suffering of lying. Usually. For example. the bliss imagined becomes the perspective that mocks the real experience. For another example.jagia-07146. Those of us who have decided that growing is worth the trouble need an ongoing supply of two things. This is why I write books. We don't have the heart to grow on up to what we know is possible. we need two things: •the ability to have a transcendent perspective. To get to that "Hoohah!!" kind of joy may require a trip through some sadness and some anger and some thinking the likes of which we don't usually do. Defense budgets deplete a gigantic proportion of the world's resources. even though married and in a monogamous relationship. That sadness and that anger and that joy and that brand new thinking comes from growing. this type of love requires more personal growth than they can stand. They may screw around with someone else and they may not. and •the ability to transcend. They choose instead to lie to each other.co. which keeps us alive. they may encounter difficulty loving their partner for loving a third party. and we introduce people to each other who are interested in ongoing personal growth. The perspective I am advocating in this book is to view perspectives themselves from a transcendent standpoint. When you read this book. Make sure you get the benefit of a more useful perspective as well as practice in applying it. This then helps us to revise the old perspectives or come up with entirely new ones—and so the process continues. one gets the perspective on the relativity of perspectives practically. There are a lot of good teachers and good courses in personal growth these days.co. •how to support each other in the process of shedding old perspectives and building new ones. After a long time and a lot of work.jagia-07146. structurally. The ultimate detachment includes detachment even from the ideal of attachment. there is a lot of help for personal growth out there these days. This is the kind of thing that can make you lose your mind and come to your senses. One to not change the bulb. The training programs developed by my colleagues and me at Radical Honesty Enterprises. "feelingly.nr . How many Zen Buddhists does it take to change a light bulb? Three. This book is about a few new perspectives: •the need for honest and accurate information—how to give it and how to get it. and •creating a larger context politically and economically for the growth of human knowledge. Inc. this book is about a perspective on perspectives." usefully. Good luck. sharing. provide us with more information.workshops. The experiments in personal growth. trainings. Our programs are just part of what is available. thus expanding our ability to survive and thrive. psychologically. interpersonally. or if you take any of our programs. please be selfish. That standpoint is that all perspectives are relative. No perspective is absolute except this one. and consultations: We human beings do not revise perspectives without a fight. Ideas are useful only when modified in the guts of the living. One to change the bulb. •the work needed to bring about "the getting" of new perspectives into our bones and into the world. are designed to help participants process and integrate information about new perspectives. Our own courses are not the only ones we recommend. We think that if we use honesty. Beyond those perspectives. One to neither change the bulb or not change the bulb. We help people come up with new perspectives and use them and adapt to them and dispense with them. and practicality as our guidelines for judging the value of training programs and books. and whatever other "lys" pertain to the actual bringing into being of the perspective of detachment from perspectives itself. Brad Blanton Sparrowhawk January 1999 Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. One first gets the relativity of perspectives intellectually. and the working through of our resistance to giving up old perspectives. but they are hard work. but a certain amount of discrimination is required to sort the airy fairy from the authentic learning and we sort through what is available using certain standards. one of the richest. at a glance. look mildly distracted or frozen or furious or sad or completely masked or desperately tense or in a big hurry or just plain worried. or if you drive in traffic and watch people in their cars.co. greatest countries in the world. More and more of us directly or indirectly are working for "the Man. Many of us live in the United States of America. most powerful. caring for.jagia-07146. In fact. most of the time.nr . It is also absolutely ridiculous for single parents to be working all the time to care for children they are not actually. insane. I think being honest helps. for example. furtively. or feeling depressed at a low level a lot of the time? If you happen to hear somebody singing the blues about how life is—like. less than happy. not firing on all cylinders. sometimes lying and sneaking around. We are crazy over money. but by the time most of us grow up. the song that goes: "I got the steadily depressin' low down mind messin' workin' at the carwash blues…". The best and most nurturing cultures are succumbing to the influence of multinational corporations for the sake of toys advertised on TV. you've had a good day. and it's taking over the world. and make a quick judgment. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. When Corporations Rule the World) Not only that. and generally. including us. I mean. even though it can be kind of depressing to start with. really. haven't you? Most of us. in reality.Introduction: The Decline of Individual Psychotherapy and the Rise of Therapeutic Community Let's talk straight here for a while." The average work week in the United States in 1954 was seventeen (!) hours shorter than in 1994. We have all gone crazy together. not living up to their full potential. in many ways. Most of the people I know and I think probably most of the people you know. getting by with what they can. not happy. if you take into account the real value of the money made in terms of purchasing power. we are all working seventeen hours per week longer than people did in 1954! (Korten. or trying too hard. isn't this the way most of us are actually living most of the time? I think our whole culture is. but it is incredibly stupid for men and women to have children together and both keep working fifty-five to sixty hours a week. The whole world is involved. looking here and there for a little relief or pleasure or freedom? Don't they waste a lot of energy more or less desperately pretending that everything is all right? Don't you? Aren't most of us just completely resigned. let's start with that kind of depressing truth about low level depression. do any of them look happy? If you encounter two out of ten that actually look happy. On average. Aren't almost all the adults you know. This is particularly true when children are young. just from our faces. and most of your friends and acquaintances. don't you want to say "Amen! Ain't it the truth!" Doesn't it make you feel better to hear someone singing about it? If you walk down the street and just look at people's faces. one face at a time. we are not really happy. the current captains of industry have two workers for the same price they paid for one in 1954! It's a great thing that women can work and compete in the marketplace. are not dealing with a full deck. the more our depression seems to turn toward anger.C. I mean a revolution. and average. in spite of missed opportunities to bond at the very beginning. Anxiety disorders disappeared. by giving birth in hospitals. normal. I have been a practicing clinical psychologist in Washington. parents generally still love their children. rather than in touch. (And. We are. I don't mean a phony Democratic revolution where the drop in the bucket of having "paid leave" for parents when children are sick is hailed as a great leap forward. friends.jagia-07146. We hope that by doing this we will get to spend more time with our children and our mates and our friends. we have recently come to value money and the material it provides more than being with our children. I helped them to quit lying the way they had been taught by nearly every person and institution they had been in contact with all their lives. hiding.) Usually. that comes from waking up and seeing the stupidity of what we have all been doing. Even if we do. I have helped thousands of average. miserable people become less miserable. using the rationalization that we have to do that in order to take care of our children. I think that is a good thing. When they quit withholding. We have hope that a kind of symbolic "being there" will substitute for real contact with children. We're abandoning our children when they are very young and leaving them to caretakers other than ourselves.In our culture. I think this all has to do with lying. group. Most of my work with people has been about repairing the damage done by their education and parenting.co. and couples psychotherapy. That is a terrible mistake. in the Western world (which is the model now being copied by the rest of the world). and we are in our minds. sadly. It doesn't. The more a lot of us think about this. and many more will be doing so in the next ten years. simply operating from a commonly shared belief system that is quite dysfunctional.. Many of us are working at home now. we might as well not be there. Psychosomatic ailments were cured. do not love the child like parents who bond with their own child upon its arrival.nr . their depression went away. normal. They do the best they can. performing. but within an extremely illfitting and inappropriate parenting and educational system and culture that has become increasingly dysfunctional since its inception. where often everything that can be done to block initial bonding occurs. D. most of the time. It is time for a revolution. or lying outright to everyone in their lives. I don't mean a phony Republican revolution with welfare reform that impoverishes another one and a half million children to protect the poor helpless rich people. I think it's time we get mad about cultural ignorance instead of depressed because we can't make ends meet. manipulating. Their parents and teachers Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. all of us. These caretakers do the best they can. many parents miss even this—the best and first real opportunity to bond with their children. Individual Psychotherapy in a Dysfunctional Family Doesn't Work Unless the Family Changes For twenty-five years. a turning of the wheel. but for the most part. specializing in individual. but often we won't. and mates. Who you are. and few of us grow beyond that. but covering up is harder on you and harder to live with than the truth. and how you felt at the time it happened. we live in a kind of well-decorated hell together. what you think. and you stay with your experience. I have come to the conclusion that what most dramatically transforms lives from normal misery to unreasonable happiness is telling the truth. As a result. life itself depends on this authentic contact with others. We lie like hell all the time to maintain our systematically indoctrinated image of who we are. People might get their feelings hurt. They had learned never to be satisfied with anything less than perfection and always to pretend that everything is okay and improving. and consultant. We Americans live privileged lives in a wonderful country with fantastic opportunities and we have been brainwashed since the day we were born.co. on the other side of that short-term breaking of the taboo is great freedom and love for each other. as well as what you are doing. But if neither you nor they run away. how you feel as a result. but as Dr. In fact. or get offended or shocked or unbearably relieved. the difficulties they face as a result are less damaging to everyone than the Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. It is important that you tell these things to the people from whom you are most inclined to hide this information.jagia-07146. thinking. maintaining and enhancing the act captured all their attention and they began slowly starving to death for lack of the nurturance that comes from commonplace experience. Dean Ornish has demonstrated in his recent book. workshop leader.nr . when the main characters finally muster the courage to tell the truth. illustrate the transformation that follows from telling the truth. and feeling about it right now. Telling the truth is hard. is your performance. and what you feel. we are so used to the brainwashing we hardly even notice it any more.communicated that the highest value a person could hold was to perform well. or at least to appear to perform well. Based on my experience as a psychotherapist. All there is to tell the truth about is what you have done. Telling the truth can help you start to notice how you poison yourself. all hell breaks loose. The rescue from our mind's oppression comes through authentic contact and honest sharing with other human beings. In both movies. I mean giving a blow-by-blow description of what happened. Not only does the quality of our lives depend on this contact and sharing. their whole lives became an act. We are used to being poisoned on a regular basis so much from within ourselves and outside ourselves that we don't even notice we are feeling sick anymore. Being isolated within our own internally-judging minds is what most of us suffer and die from. they were told. Once that occurs. With such a stress on performance. Telling the truth is hard to do. Then. Two recent movies. what you thought about what happened. and how you maintain the social structures around you to keep the nausea that comes with maintaining the act. Secrets and Lies and Courage Under Fire. Almost all of us have been poisoned by such pretense. because it is so contrary to our conditioning. When I talk about telling the truth. Love and Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy. •After withholding information from her fundamentalist parents for years. with like results. just as they became more open to who he was. and both he and his wife lived through a lot of fury and hurt and fear. and their desire to be there for her even if she violated their expectations and values. •A young man wanted a better relationship with his parents but felt that certain things were "unspeakable" as a part of the family code of silence. Here are a few examples of the transformations accomplished by some of the participants in Radical Honesty® workshops.nr . He also became more open to who his parents really were. Her parents expressed their sorrow at her having gone through that experience alone. The perspective and the conversation and the closeness that developed out of that renewal continues to this day. She was sure her parents would disown her. I have coached women to make similar revelations. make plans for the future of their own love relationships and the families that proceed from them without being blocked by undone knots from the past. as they work to consciously design and create together the future life of their family. She went back and told them everything. The initial conversations were really hard. Out of this experience they can.lies they had been hiding behind. what they thought. Afterward. and a renewal of relationship and psychological healing—in many cases not only for the truthteller. The result was not only forgiveness for hurts and transgressions from the past. she forgave him and they chose to continue living together. made up of people who work together on joint projects and support each other in separate projects. In each case where this extraordinary level of honesty occurs in real life. but also for those hearing the truth. Dozens of times. For others.jagia-07146. a daughter told them the truth about an abortion she'd had while in college. told his wife the truth when he described in detail the number of times he had seen his lovers. and what they had done. They were coached by other friends and me who simply held constant for them the goal of being explicit and clear about what they felt. Now they all acknowledge that a new family of adult friends has been born. •A husband who was having an affair.co. a rebirth of intimacy. including how she got pregnant. and how she felt about not being able to tell them. where she went for the abortion. what she'd done when she found out. She and her parents now have a more authentic and open relationship. and spoke in detail about things that were implicitly not talked about in his family. (There are many millions of people in the world who never really get to know their parents as adults. there is an authentic sharing of emotion. he began to realize that the "family code" was partly in his imagination. this simple process of declaring "I am grown" and "this is what I resent about you and appreciate about you from the past and this is who I Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. That same kind of transformation has been experienced by hundreds of real-life graduates of my workshops and psychotherapy. and not for the first time. Eventually. what he had done with them and how he felt during the liaisons. but great joy and renewal of the whole family. He had a fivehour session with his parents in which he shared specific resentments and specific appreciations for things they had spoken and done in the past. for the first time. not by circumstances. they fell in love again. telling the truth. He risked his job by telling his boss his specific resentments and as a result. As a side effect. •A man with chronic sleep-onset insomnia started falling asleep peacefully every night after cleaning up his act by telling the truth at work and at home. practicing yoga. Freedom from the foolish notion that our fundamental identity is a judge and critic gives us the possibility of living our lives according to our preferences rather than the "shoulds" our minds generate. all have to do with noticing. authentic conversation can begin. thought and did. and instead of her leaving. but her "arthritis" went away.) •A woman diagnosed by physicians with arthritis told the truth to her husband about an affair she had been hiding for a long time. The common thread across all these stories of successful deliverance from the mind is the revision of an incorrect belief. and stress-related ailments. We find out who we are behind the mask of false identity. instead of getting fired. He risked his relationship with his wife by telling her the truth about what he felt. 4. and simultaneously begin to glimpse the same in those close to us. 3.co. Meditating. Once people complete the undoing of their past lies and get "current" by telling the truth. and many other practices lead to a new way of identifying oneself. about who they are. The daily practices. he was given a raise in pay.Lying is the primary source of most human stress. and more creativity in a shared life together.Most suffering is generated by the tendency of the mind to moralize and judge. as the world's great wisdom traditions have always taught. He now has work and love in a community of friends rather than a life of isolation.nr .jagia-07146. we also discover the same thing about other people. Sometimes it begins with a person admitting that they are a liar and accusing their friends of being liars as well and then sticking with the discussion until they all can laugh at their own and each other's pretentiousness. 1. These concepts follow. anxiety disorders. 2. being aware with the senses. on the part of each individual. a number of concepts had become apparent to me. They eventually split up. Deliverance from Mistaken Identity When I wrote Radical Honesty. Her next relationship was one of more honesty.Stress is caused by the mind of the individual suffering from stress.am and what I value now" often leads to complete renewal of the whole family and stands in stark contrast to the norm. There are scores more of such examples throughout our own radical honesty community of friends. and to mistake belief for reality. through working with hundreds of people suffering from depression. Once this gets straightened out.Most of us suffer from the fundamental problem of mistaken identity—we tend to identify with our judgments and criticisms of ourselves and believe our judging minds to be who we are. less pain and illness. he can sleep now. they must continually reground themselves in the present moment with the use of daily practices that help them stay current. When we discover that we are not our reputations in the eyes of our parents or bosses or spouses. This new identity as the Noticer rather Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. The most wonderful thing about this whole process is that people's contributions to the lives of others become the primary means of getting the results they want in their own lives.than the performer grows on you. functional. They didn't settle for just getting over something or resolving their problems. to keep it from backsliding into its habitual patterns. When that happened. conflict. my job changed. A lot of problems are fun. it needs to be given a bone or toy or an old rag to chew on. That new work for the mind-dog. Getting free and staying free from the jail of the mind. As it turns out. Even those that were once miserable can become fun through a change of perspective and a change of heart. tax-paying. Melody Harris. Belief is distinguished from reality. is the work of creating one's life as an artist. Take. careers changed. homes built. and creating life by intentional design. startups of new enterprises. however. Beliefs that are just functional and not a substitute for reality can be useful. After Liberation from the Jail of the Mind—Conscious Creation My clients have all been average. The Noticer takes charge of the mind rather than the reverse. They began to create. by telling other people what problems we have and working them out in the public arena. for example. that "something bigger" to chew on. whether we are honest or engage in spiritual practices or not. The judging mind is like a teething puppy. awareness. children born and adopted. I became a coach for creating. they became abnormal people—abnormally successful. Energy that was once expended on self-criticism. and suffering has instead nurtured projects resulting in multimillion-dollar businesses. The future that emerges from conscious planning and conscious use of the mind is absolutely not predictable by inference from the liberated person's past. and reunion with alienated friends and families accomplished.jagia-07146. We stop wasting energy protesting and simply accept that life comes with problems. Problems are best handled by confronting them openly rather than keeping them secret.co. identifying oneself as a noticing being. marriages after years of inability to partner up. voting citizens— normal people—with problems that were getting them down. indebtedness resolved. and using the mind rather than being used by it are practices at the heart of how honest people create the good life in a community of friends. my job shifted from encouraging liberation from limiting beliefs to supporting "designer beliefs"—beliefs consciously invented to bring about certain results.nr . Out of the work they did with me and my colleagues. In addition to daily practices to maintain and sharpen noticing. something else is equally important: the mind has to be given new work to do. People who stop resisting life problems become a community of support for each other's practice of honesty. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. The function of the mind shifts from maintaining an image to imagining a future and then to creating a future. a whole new approach to life problems emerges. An individual is born. As the Radical Honesty Workshops evolved. Approaching Life Problems Once belief is distinguished from reality. not all problems are miserable. Toward the end of the hour. I also learned that she loved to read. She stopped being a victim of circumstance and became the creator of her own life. but the choice will be made by her according to what she notices about her life and her moods. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. sell her house. and the kids and I love her. Yet she stopped being a victim and became a creator. She hated her job. sat down. Lather. although Melody was taking Prozac. said. She got it. and that she had a sense of humor. It said. She is way happier most of the time than she used to be. and worked as a secretary in a law firm. blew her nose. She recently told me she hadn't started the day by crying in the morning for over six months. she is more in control of her life than she used to be. I just watched her and waited and didn't say anything. There was a history of depression in her family. That was about three years ago. She may or may not stay off medication. singing songs. had read lots of good literature and self-help books. Amy. She got that the computer programmer.jagia-07146.nr . It didn't happen overnight." I said. I asked. Repeat. She got the joke and she got that the joke was on her at the same time. was just like herself in some way. caught in the "do-loop" of the instructions and shampooing herself to death. "No. and move out to the country. She still has relapses. "Did you hear the joke about the computer programmer who died in the shower?" Melody said. At the time. Melody is no longer victimized by depression. over about a three-year period. and she had been on anti-depressant medications of various sorts for several years.'" Melody looked blank for about five seconds and then laughed—a great big guffaw of a laugh. But she herself and anyone who knows her will tell you. 'Wet hair. Over the course of that first hour we spent together.Depression and Liberation The first moment I met Melody Harris she started crying. She did it systematically. Melody and her eight-year-old daughter came to our house to visit for the weekend not too long ago. introduced herself. "She followed the label on the shampoo. and started talking again. and talking about her plans to quit her job. looked at me. Rinse. and over the last six months has been able to slowly reduce the amount of medication she's been taking so that now she is off it altogether. She was worse off than you probably are. biochemical) depression. she still cried frequently and felt hopeless a lot. not according to some physician's best guess about the state of her neurotransmitters.co. My wife. I found out that she was in her forties. We spent most of the time laughing. I liked her and thought she was smart and funny and she felt the same about me. Melody learned how to be happier and no longer victimized by so-called endogenous (genetic. She dug a bunch of tissues out of her purse. even though she liked the lawyers for whom she worked. lived alone with a fiveyear-old child she'd adopted just before her husband left her. She came into my office for a psychotherapy appointment. "My sister-in-law told me to come see you because I'm depressed…" and started crying. The evolution of psychotherapy and teaching to the stage where the therapist and teacher are demoted and the power of the client is promoted has occurred in the context of honesty to the point where we are presumed equal because. Dual Relationships There is a term among psychotherapists for the kind of healing that involves creating together and being friends: it's called "dual relationship" and you lose your license to practice psychotherapy for it. This model was set up to protect the patient or student from being taken advantage of sexually or financially by the caretaker and to prevent the caretaker from having undue influence over a patient or student's life because of the position of authority held by the caretaker. As beings we are equal to start.co. including its so-called leaders. A dozen or so therapists a year lose their licenses and their listing in the National Registry of Health Service Providers in Psychology for conducting "dual relationships" with their clients. As minds.jagia-07146. Seeking to avoid any possible Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky events or cult leader advantages. participating in workshops and groups designed and conducted by me and other people I have trained. and by spending time living among and playing with other honest people. which is the name of our "cult. As is the case with the evolution of most rules and regulations in the minds of most people. These rules were made when the model we were operating under was the doctor/patient or teacher/student model. Currently." She quit her job and moved to the country with her daughter and until recently has been living with us while preparing to build a little house nearby. what starts out as an impulse toward fairness and consumer protection eventually becomes moralism and ignorance. Whatever expertise gets shared comes from another flawed human being. Melody is now busily engaged in the process of consciously designing her life. Most of the psychotherapists I train nowadays admit this equality of being and most form friendships with their clients. we are. and either one of us may be more screwed up than the other at any given time. She came to Mexico with us in early February for the last couple of years with about fifty-five of our closest friends. to attend the Annual Unconvention of the Futilitarian Union Network. In the context of honesty we are equals from the start. She is consciously designing a way to make a living in some less miserable fashion by working with us and carving out a new career.nr . all my relationships to all my clients are dual relationships. She has accomplished her main goal Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. in fact. licensed therapists made rules that say we are supposed to play doctor and our clients are supposed to play patient and so we shouldn't hang out with each other at all. That kind of sharing is actually critical to creating the kind of therapeutic community that gives rise to the psychological growth of all its members. we are both screwed up whether we are playing trainer or trainee. This book explores the same path Melody and others have followed and includes most of the content of the training groups that teach a new egalitarian model for living called radical honesty.through individual and group psychotherapy. but we don't buy into their tales of woe-is-me. Those of us who have discovered our own authority in our lives have compassion for those who haven't. Everyone in this community has tried both avoidance and taking charge and they have found that making things happen is more gratifying than whining and complaining and blaming and making excuses for all the bad things that have happened to them that were beyond their control. Melody no longer believes a number of things she used to believe. what used to be tragic often turns out to be more funny than tragic. there were dozens of other small things that she learned to do as a result of her openness and availability. and seeks coaching from friends about work and child-rearing-related problems and perplexities. And she has had more power in relation to every person she has come in contact with since then. We often make fun of each other as much or more than we feel sorry for each other. In addition to what Melody learned by facing those major things she had avoided. speaks honestly with other people about her life and theirs. When we get over the stories about the past that we have been living in. hurt. How Does One Live Honestly? First of all. she also contacted and completed unfinished business with people from her past. Melody took permanent responsibility for the moment-tomoment quality of her own life. communicates her feelings all the time whether she is scared to do so or not.of no longer having her mood determine the results she gets in the world. she found that her life changed. She completed what had been avoided and left incomplete.nr . As both advisee and advisor to her friends in our local radical honesty community. She meditates and exercises regularly. and appreciation she had avoided for all those years. she has continued to become more skillful at listening and communicating. most notably her ex-husband from whom she had been alienated for seven years. Then she learned a number of practices that keep her grounded in the present. Face-to-face and out loud. She is now in training to be a trainer to run groups that teach radical honesty. which is made up of people who are also taking charge of their lives. with real people in her real life.jagia-07146. As a result of communicating with honest friends over a period of time and completing what she had avoided in the past. this detachment from mood has had a subtle but unmistakably positive effect on her mood. she told him what she resented him for and what she appreciated him for. practices yoga occasionally.co. As a result of our coaching and conversations and encouragement. She used to think she Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. In all the rest of her life. She found him and met with him in person. in the real world. noticing her experience and distinguishing between noticing and thinking. After she had traced him down and met with him to clearly experience and live through all the anger. Ironically. We all remind each other of that now and then. she now has the power to make things happen differently from how they had happened before. My family and friends and fellow therapists and trainers and other "dual relationship" clients are working away at modeling and teaching this way of "living out loud" and "living with no apology" that we have learned from each other. co. fomented by individuals who want to improve not only their own lives. make immense contributions to others by assisting them to find their own individuality. Furthermore. The leftovers from Judeo-Christian fundamentalism and stoicism —the belief instilled in most of us that we must suffer all kinds of unhappiness just to survive—still determine for most of us our automatic approach to life. to noticing real experience. Of course. and 3. and life can be so much easier than how most of us are willing to Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146. 2. and more). from one moment to the next. and in much of the rest of the world. The Revolution of Consciousness As I have traveled across the country speaking and doing book signings and leading workshops on radical honesty. such as "I am a depressed person. This book is dedicated to that movement.was a victim of depression and many other accidents of fate. weight gain. it's not just folks who have worked with me who are making these great transformations. out of discovering their own individuality. It is called the revolution of consciousness. dulled sensations. There are other therapists and trainers and consultants and teachers and philosophers who. Through coaching and practice in noticing sensations in her body. we progress from living within the restraining context of limiting beliefs. Those of us fed up with pretense and lying are gaining ground. She used to think that she had to keep working at a job she hated no matter what. We who have grown beyond that have learned two very important things: we don't know much about how to leave ourselves alone. awareness. but also to change the way society educates us about what is important and valuable. A revolution is happening.Constant engagement in the practices of meditation." and actual experience. It's more like a movement. This is accomplished through a series of learnings.Liberation from the traditional jail of the mind.Consciously designing the future with the help of friends—being a creator in a community of creators. Melody came to recognize that a global category like "depression" didn't precisely describe each individual moment of real feeling. By telling the truth about what we have previously avoided. to conscious design of the future with the help of a community of friends. It involves: 1. and that there was nothing she could do about it except to stay on medications at high dosage levels that had negative side effects (no sexual interest. such as "I feel pressure in my chest right now and I am crying. This book is a detailed description of that series of learnings. she has the continuous support of a community of people who love her and consider themselves to be in the same boat with regard to making their lives work. and radical honesty to maintain contact with being alive and with others. She became skilled in distinguishing the difference between limiting beliefs.nr . I have met hundreds of people who are members of a great revolution in consciousness presently taking place in America." She developed skills for designing step-by-step blueprints to build the future she envisions for herself and her daughter. as most of the miserable people in the world do. and we can only create it." This book shares insights. What used to be work becomes play because it is based on the future you envision and want to bring into being simply because you love the idea of it.nr . you use your mind instead to create a future for yourself and your friends. but to begin creating a less dysfunctional world family. I have been asking myself: "What makes people happy and free?" "What is functional and what's dysfunctional?" "What is an average functional person. The path goes like this: first we recognize and then transcend the limiting beliefs of our own minds. and maintaining an ongoing engagement in practices that keep one grounded in the experience of being and noticing. and me not only to get over our suffering. Done in sequence. workshop participants. To make all this possible. and exercises that work. Rather than using your mind simply to react to the events in the present that vaguely remind you of your past.jagia-07146. one needs to find work that seems like play. There is a way out of the desperate. A fulfilled life is going to be something different for every person. like your whole life is playing and having fun and contributing to other people. instructed. and acculturated. most of the time. and abilities that are essential. and how does a highly functioning human being operate?" More and more. I am writing this book to make it possible for readers to benefit from the same processes and practices that have helped my clients. practices.co.let ourselves live. they allow you to move all the way from feeling overwhelmed and depressed to feeling. but there are some qualities. And continuing to grow seems more and more to require shedding one's mind and one's outdated culture like a snake shedding his skin each time he outgrows it. Life can be so much richer when we shift the focus from increasing the quantity of our accumulations and concentrate instead on the quality of our attention. you must constantly practice noticing with the senses to escape domination by the mind. Through all these years of working closely as a psychotherapist with people who were screwed up by how they were parented. nurturant. simultaneously for ourselves and each other. loving participation in a community of friends who support you in an honest and creative life. In addition to being willing to take responsibility for one's own life. skills. The Workbook Section The revolution of consciousness is the organizing principle for the workbook. and accept full Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. through an honest dialogue about how our lives are and how we want our collective future to be. Radical Honesty II is about the re-attainment and rediscovery of what Nietzsche called "that seriousness of a child at play. you need skill in maintaining strong. stop being victims of our own and our cultures' ignorant and outdated prejudices. the answer to all these questions has something to do with continuing to grow. To move along the path from being a victim of overwhelming circumstances to becoming a masterful creator at play. driven way of living we have all been taught. they will convert remembered experience into limiting beliefs all over again. you have a chance to do something about it. One of the first things you do is go back and confront your parents and ex-spouses and begrudged people from the past and complete with them. Once you accept that being a victim is an impotent protest and a waste of your life and energy. We do this because we have learned that if we don't give our minds work to do designing the future. and the odds are you can't be fixed anyway. No one owes you compensation for your suffering. Express your resentment and get over it. isn't going to help you lead a better life. These practices allow us to become identified. says he became a therapist out of his codependent relationship with his Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. your whining about how your parents didn't do it right. we have to put our minds to work doing something other than worrying and criticizing. your paranoia. and are restored to our true identity as beings in our bodies right here and now. your defenses. we will go back to judging ourselves according to the old-fashioned and inappropriate values of the past and believing that who we are is the judge-and-victim game. and be separate individuals and still be related in the context of forgiveness. through practice. the famous author. we are each victimized by one thing only: the limiting perspective of our own minds. with our ability to notice. The scars are not going to go away. We have to give our minds something to chew on or they chew on us. your limiting beliefs. and your hypersensitivity can all become useful tools once your perspective on them changes. once transcended. You need to accept what skills and scars you have and live in the present and look to the future. can be used to construct a better life. personality theorist. Primarily. Once we get beyond the paradigm of beliefs that has been limiting us. the workbook section of this book contains exercises and experiments and practical techniques for becoming attuned to the sensations of our bodies and grounded in our experience in the here and now.co. First: Get Over It Nobody is going to be able to make up for how you got treated as a child. we assign our minds the task of bringing into being a future we envision. The workbook exercises are introduced. It turns out that no matter how good a listener your therapist is. Then. forgive them. Formerly limiting perspectives. The highlights of the steps are as follows. Designed to be used by individuals or groups. Examples of this transformation are plentiful. one set at a time. To keep our concepts about reality from recapturing the here-and-now space of the experience of reality. acknowledge them. and how nobody has done a good enough job since then.jagia-07146. You can create the life you want using the equipment you have. articulate and confirm value differences that are real. and turn yourself loose from your story about you and them. John Bradshaw. and therapist.nr . Express your appreciation and get over it.responsibility for the quality of our present and future lives. according to what seems to be the natural developmental sequence people go through when they begin to grow up. Unless the work that we give our minds keeps them busy. Get over it. Your neuroses. mother. There is a fellow I know who teaches the rich and famous how to stay safe, a skill he developed from being an abused child and then a thief. He began his training in life by learning to watch for subtle cues in the behavior of potentially violent people and to rip them off first, in order to avoid being ripped off. He now teaches people how to avoid being victimized by people skilled in his kind of survival system. My wife, Amy Silver, a writer, songwriter, and performer, spent her childhood climbing trees and reading books to escape the fury of her hysterical mother and the insanity of her space cadet father and the way they ran the family in her earlier years. After she voluntarily came back to this world, she turned out to be a poet, having learned to synthesize her facility with language with her skills in noticing. She now uses her art to share her vulnerability with others as a singer/songwriter instead of trying to "escape" or "get better." In all these cases, the very equipment developed to survive as children, which becomes the "jail of the mind" (the primary set of limiting beliefs constraining further maturation), when transformed, becomes the instrument of creation. These stories are fascinating, and we have so many of them now in our community of friends that we are currently writing another book together, The Truthtellers: Stories of Success by Honest People. Second: Continue to Develop Your Awareness The awareness continuum can be divided into three parts: 1.What we notice within the confines of our own skin right now; 2.What we notice outside of ourselves in the moment; and, 3.What we notice going through our minds right now. I call this Inside, Outside, Upside Down, after my favorite children's book. (Berenstain, 1982). There is a progression in the way we train our noticing that parallels these divisions of the awareness continuum. Exercises developed in the course of training Gestalt therapists are used to practice and develop skills that involve noticing and describing what is noticed. In the Course in Honesty, we teach and practice these exercises intensively and develop skills in noticing. When we become skilled in noticing and describing what is going on inside our bodies right now, we can then practice noticing what is going on in the world outside of ourselves right now. Finally, we develop our ability to pay attention until we become capable of noticing what is going on in our own minds right now. In other words, our skill in noticing what is going on within the confines of our own skin, and our skill in noticing what is going on outside of our bodies, moment by moment, can eventually be applied to our ability to notice our own thoughts as they arise. After becoming skilled in noticing, we begin to become identified with our ability to notice. Who we consider ourselves to be is the Noticer, the perceiver who is consistently there, which includes but is not limited to the perception, thought, or sensation that may arise. We have perceptions, sensations, and thoughts but they are not our primary identity. Likewise, we are not our biography. We still have a biography but it is not our primary identity. Though we still perform, we no longer identify with our Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr performance as who we are. Identification with our literal experience of being in our body in the here and now, present to the external world here and now, and observing our thoughts here and now, gives us the opportunity to use our minds rather than being used by our minds. The power of this quality of attention, free from the distractions of the mind, is demonstrated in the classic Kurasawa film Seven Samurai. A samurai takes on the task of defending a village of farmers from raids by bands of thieves at harvest time. He needs more samurai to help him. To interview those willing to help defend the village, he invents a system of screening applicants. He places a samurai with a drawn sword just inside the doorway of the interview room with instructions to behead all who enter. The interviewer faces the doorway to greet arriving applicants. If the applicant, upon entering, notices the person attempting to behead him and blocks the blow, he is hired. Our trainers who lead the Radical Honesty workshops (the Courses in Honesty, Forgiveness, and Creating) and community meetings are skilled in defending against invasions by the marauders of the mind who come to steal all the benefits of the work of being. The trainers have been selected based on their capacity to save their own lives from being devoured by their minds. Third: Spiritual Practices + Planning = Creation A person who takes full responsibility for how her life is, and what her life is for, can create the life she wants by using a number of spiritual practices within the context of a consciously-designed plan. The life of the spirit is maintained through specific practices like meditation, telling the truth, and yoga. To live the spiritual life, you don't have to be a "spiritual type" or some kind of goody-two-shoes. You don't have to be a religious moralist to be a spiritual person. As far as I can tell, spiritual and experiential are synonymous. When I am fully engaged in any experience with my full attention, it is a spiritual experience. Spiritual/experiential events come from the heightening, deepening, and widening of the quality of life through the quality of mindful attention. Meditating, telling the truth, yoga, and many other practices enhance the quality of my life and that of my friends because these practices heighten our experience of being. Spiritual practices enhance the quality of our lives by heightening, deepening, and widening our experience of being through mindful attention. As it turns out, spiritual practices not only enhance the quality of life, they also empower you to create. In fact, to bring about the results in life you imagine you want, spiritual practices are essential. Being holy or righteous about spiritual practices or spiritual beliefs is entirely unnecessary and antithetical to their functional use. In fact, if you are a moralist, sickening daily with the disease of attachment to righteousness, you are as far from spiritual as a person can get. My friends and I have found something more valuable than the fun of righteousness. It's those amazing moments when we are suddenly productive after being inspired by an honest conversation with a friend, or just after returning from a vacation, or right after meditation. We have Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr learned that we become productive and creative out of spiritual experience. Spiritual practices, both private and public, are a way to have regular mini-vacations that refresh your quality of life every day. These practices help keep you mentally focused, healthy, and relaxed (in other words, functioning optimally) while you implement your plans. Regular spiritual practices help you cope with the tendency of the mind to transform inspiration to obligation and enable you to recapture the space of freedom. Fourth: Don't Be the Lone Ranger: Do This in Community Ongoing support groups, which connect you with friends who are doing the same thing you are, end up being project planning and vision sharing meetings that are at least as much fun, if not more, than whining and moaning sessions about who is to blame. We call them therapeutic communities. We could call them creative communities. They are going on in cities and townships all over the country now and starting up in other places in the world. We have dozens of these groups of friends associated with our work to which we refer people who say they are interested in radical honesty. The final section of Radical Honesty II describes the model for how to develop and live in communities of support for honesty and creation. When we belong to a community based on sharing honestly, there are people around who know us and whom we know deeply. These people are the means of support for bringing about powerful results for ourselves in the world, even if other people in the world are against us. Good friends can get us past our own mind-centeredness and hysteria and back into the here and now. Good friends can also help us feel okay when we don't tread the beaten path, and when people with old-paradigm values say we're crazy. Networking among the communities of support that have developed from the Radical Honesty workshops and affiliating with other communities of support that share our new values are ongoing sources of inspiration for all of us. Summary: From Victim to Creator Most human suffering comes from being trapped in the jail of the mind. We are confused by the map and can't find the territory. Like Alzheimer's sufferers, our brains misidentify our surroundings and we become lost and confused. We have concepts that don't fit reality and reality that doesn't fit our concepts. Then we get further into the soup by trying to explain why the pieces don't fit. Then we make matters worse by trying to get ourselves and others to straighten up and fit in. We are always telling some kind of story that builds a case for ourselves, and trying to put on our best face so we can convince others we are the model for what fits, good and not bad, right and not wrong, capable, adequate to the task, and so on. Deliverance from the suffering caused by being trapped in the mind comes through sharing with other people how life actually is for us— honestly—rather than lying in the conventional ways we have all learned. We have been taught in school and at home and in the marketplace to Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr anticipate what other people expect and to perform accordingly, regardless of whether it makes sense to us or has anything to do with what we want. There is a strong taboo against telling the truth about how we actually feel and what we actually think, and strong reinforcement for doing what we imagine our peers and elders expect of us. We are convinced that this performance is very important; we are quite attached to our assessments about our own and other peoples' performance and our stories about who is to blame when performances are not up to par. Basically we are performing and judging all the time. Constantly performing and judging wears us out. We get tired from it. Getting tired of it is the next step. Radical Honesty II draws on the major philosophical systems and religious and psychological practices of the world to develop a program that has four fundamental elements: 1.A series of processes for getting "current" and detaching from the past; 2.Ongoing practices to reground ourselves in present-tense experience to help us through obstacles and rough moments and our mind's built-in resistance (attempting forever to make categories seem like reality); 3.A life projects design-and-management system; and 4.Information about how to develop honest, sharing relationships with friends in a community of support so that, through making contributions to each other, we bring our individual projects into being. The road from victim to creator is an ever-opening path into the future. The combination of radical honesty, spiritual practices, and co-creating in community is what keeps the way clear. The life-altering, community-building, world-changing program we have created and refined over the last ten years of conducting the intensive Course in Honesty is presented in detail for the first time to the public at large in the workbook section of this book. The workbook section includes many exercises and practices we have developed to sharpen and maintain skills in noticing, until identity with the Noticer comes about, and from which a community of people in love with each other comes into existence. The results you can bring into being with this technology and these practices are almost limitless. Once you lose your mind and come to your senses, you get your mind back. But, because you don't have to use it to defend your image anymore, you can use it for other purposes. Then you envision what you want and make a plan. Planning is the work of making things happen according to your vision. Your personality, which developed from what happened to you in your past—the very mind system that formerly constrained you and caused endless neurotic suffering—is now the equipment you use for the act of creation. What was once the source of your suffering becomes a tool to create and operate your plan for the future. Rather than the usual psychotherapeutic approach of figuring out what is wrong with you and trying to fix it, this approach advocates the use of your personality quirks and problems as instruments for creation. You take damaged equipment and make something useful. Stumbling blocks become stepping stones. Honesty about what you have done, what you feel, and what you think, Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr People who have become conscious creators of their lives—like the people described in the first part of this book—not only cannot live. They cannot live happily within the constraints of traditional ignorance. because we are bad and inadequate and less capable than "successful" people. we cannot know what our children's lives will be like. politicians. television personalities. neighbors. are just not good enough. authors of The Paradigm Conspiracy. 1: Living Under the Old Paradigm Many of us begin to feel victimized by our circumstances because we try to fit into a model of living that doesn't work for us.co. when we are driven by our obligations—all the things we think we "should" do—we get further and further behind. instead. and that way of living ends up draining us rather than inspiring us.nr . friends. It's our fault that we suffer. they will not live. So we suffer and we assume we deserve the suffering we get. No matter where we live in the world or what we believe. musicians. Strangers are raising our children and we are missing out on one of the most precious gifts life has to offer—being with our own families. ourselves. The pressures of modern-day life—to move faster. The parents. it is critical to our happiness and well being that we get over attachment to beliefs quickly and repeatedly. We are living in a paradigm we learned from people who had no idea what our modern lives would be like. teachers. People all over the world suffer like hell from the tenuous relationship of their beliefs to reality. We work too much. work harder. According to Breton and Largent. Likewise. get ahead— weigh heavily on us. religious leaders. but just a little too attached to those models of how life is supposed to be. that we are fine. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. within the torturous constraints of these antiquated paradigms. If you want the good life. writers. It could be. We feel trapped by a sense of obligation to perform our lives in obedience to a way of living that somebody else invented. models that don't have much to do with reality anymore. more than half of the people in the world are addicted to some substance or some process! Why are we so sick and in pain? Because we think that when we can't make life turn out the way it is supposed to.shared on an ongoing basis. It is one of the givens of living in the Information Age that we cannot be specifically prepared for the future that will show up for us. creates an intimate connection with and concern for the ongoing well-being of other people. and talk show hosts who were primarily responsible for our education as we grew up had no idea what our lives would be like now. The largest single economic enterprise worldwide is the sale of illegal drugs—most of them painkillers. and find we don't have enough time to spend with our families or other pursuits of happiness. Therefore. and as a result we're working harder than ever at jobs we don't enjoy. we. a community of co-creators is the place to be.jagia-07146. Out of this grows a community of mutual support and co-creation. That doesn't even count the billions spent on legal painkillers of one kind or another from the pharmaceutical industry. earn more. they are isolated from their friends and family. and we cast about for someone or something external to blame. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. telling the truth is a revolutionary act. Their personal relationships don't satisfy them emotionally. most of whom have never met each other. When people modify what they are greedy for.nr . fomenters of a new revolution. feeling deeply ill-prepared and inadequate to the tasks they feel obligated to perform at home and at work. it radically alters what money is. Through honest conversations.co. we don't seem to be in control of our lives. overwhelmed. No matter what we do. As it turns out. driven way of living we have all been taught. and anxious and mildly depressed about the future. We wonder why we're not experiencing a richer quality of existence.jagia-07146. it will just take a while to let the world know. How did we lose it? Is it possible to regain our passion? Isn't there an alternative to obsessive use of painkillers and alcohol and overeating and overwork and other addictive substances and processes? The Rediscovery of Our True Identity The ill-fitting cultural paradigms that live in people's minds create intense suffering. we were eager and curious and had a spirit for living. We're all trapped in a do-loop we don't seem able to escape. and they feel disconnected from being alive and awake like they were as children. That alteration is what the very last chapter of this book is about. Something just doesn't feel right. you become a revolutionary.People come to participate in workshops and psychotherapy with me because they are frustrated. when you tell the truth and hear the truth enough. normal parenting and schooling—how to create a way out of the mind jail they have been built into. and we can only create it simultaneously for ourselves and each other through an honest conversation about how our lives are and how we want our future to be. "In a time of universal deceit. There is a way out of the desperate. We can remember how. The courage to "live out loud" is required of each individual before outmoded systems can be revised or dispensed with. We are going to change the world by modeling a better way to live than all the other cults. This is why telling the truth is so critical. Radical Honesty II naturally follows from the concepts in Radical Honesty. we come to identify ourselves as "the being who notices in the moment" rather than our case histories. and what money means. as children. who are a rapidly growing cult. There are thousands of us now. We all share a kind of cultural shift pain. and we plan to change the world. The quality of our lives together is already better than the quality of their lives together." I wrote this book to teach people who have suffered from middle class child abuse—that is. We are going to win the competition with multinational corporations and the money cult by outdoing them in the quality of our lives together. from a world constantly in transition from one model of living to another. As George Orwell said. We follow a trail from individual suffering to the examination of dysfunctional families and cultures to the establishment of communities of liberation and ongoing renewal. These limiting cultural and family paradigms exist only in the minds of individuals. particularly the money cult that is currently in charge. with exercises and detailed instructions for designing and creating a vibrant. People in recovery from every drug and process addiction known have thanked me for my work. and in Haight-Ashbury. Young Dissident Revolution Many of the people I have met on book tours and talk shows are people like me. The Old Activist. either. and really "get" that we are wasting our lives that way. moaning and whining about how your parents didn't do it right and nobody has done a good enough job since then. The workbook section. deliverance from the suffering caused by being trapped in the mind comes through sharing how life is for you with other people. gives you actions to take to employ the mind for something other than useless worrying and selfcriticism. and experimenting with drugs and roaming around the rest of the world to find out more about it. only it is done in community and with contributions to others as a part of the work of art itself. Unitarian Universalists and Unity Church people and even Methodists have been inviting me to come and preach and sing my songs about this work. who were in the civil rights movement. and then to use the mind to stay free from the mind. We are everyone who listens to public radio. Creating the future intentionally is done in the same way any artist intentionally creates a work of art. Ministers of various faiths have written or called me after reading Radical Honesty to let me know that my time as a preacher in the Methodist Church and as a student of existentialists and Buddhists and Sufis did teach me something valued and needed by people in modern times.co. We come to understand that we are all primarily victimized by one thing only: the limitation of perspective of our own minds. The first. We who are awakening. Plans for the future are the natural next step to transformation. This sharing can occur in psychotherapy and/or some other kind of formal or informal training in life. In addition to this learning about Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. and in school buses traveling all over the country for years. We are the people who make hits out of really good movies like Secrets and Lies. Once we gain a perspective on our own minds we have the possibility of using them rather than being used by them. and the anti-war movement. Old Hippie. most important transcendence is of a particular state of mind: namely. we have a chance to do something about it. We're all hungry for clear articulations of what we are presently in the middle of doing. Once we see ourselves whining in impotent protest. in order to transcend the mind. Any instruction is revolutionary that allows one to be grounded in experience.just like creating with friends naturally follows from the practice of radical honesty.nr . and make popular more honest TV shows like NYPD Blue and Roseanne and Seinfeld (Seinfeld was honest by portraying modern lives being admittedly so contrived) and Ellen and Politically Incorrect and ER and a few others. fundamentally identifying oneself as the experiencer. and in humanistic psychology.jagia-07146. fulfilled life. represent twenty-four percent of the population of the country. according to a recent survey by the Center for Noetic Sciences. As many people have learned through Radical Honesty® workshops. meta-cults of the world. and rediscovers being Becomes functional and maintains it by practicing meditation and consciously creating life as an intentional work of art Raised by well-intentioned but inept parents to be neurotic Attains adolescence. which is almost psychotic Figure 1. living in the minds of the people of the world. The Growth of Human Beings Freedom This is a "how-to-do-it book" on freedom. and rediscovers being—becomes functional and maintains it by practicing meditation and consciously creating a life as an intentional work of art in the context of a community of friends. The cultures of the world. an ongoing practice or set of practices (such as meditation) is necessary on a continual basis to keep the mind from recapturing the space of freedom and starting to whine all over again about some other victimization. In the present. You use your mind to direct your attention to constantly practicing noticing. based on money. Getting this whole picture is critical to being able to apply the benefits of enlightenment to your everyday life. which is almost psychotic—gets therapy or gets wise some way. directed by a very small number of very rich people. This work is about how to use your mind to keep yourself from falling back to the neurotic survival skills of the mind and its familiar complaints. Innocent child in touch with being Gets therapy or gets wise some way. This is the information on the practical work of transcendence so we can use our minds rather than be used by them. The corporate/money culture. are under the influence of the various transcendent.co. and to your vision of the future. you create. Radical Honesty II is instruction on how to use the file and where to start filing. but fails to transcend its own limited culture which is based on the accumulation and control of resources. Radical Honesty was the cake with the file in it.nr . transcends cultural boundaries of the world. so you could escape the jail of the mind. Rather than using your mind to simply react to the things in the present that vaguely remind you of your past. Once the people of the world learn to use the culture that has been using Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. you create work that seems like play because it is based on the future you envision and want to bring into being because you love the idea of it. the revolution of consciousness. The progression of growth for human beings who reach their full maturity is like this: innocent child in touch with being—raised by well-intentioned but inept and stupid parents to be neurotic—attains adolescence. You use your mind to transcend your mind. but not transcendent enough.jagia-07146. That is the heart of the new revolution.transcendence. Figure 1 summarizes the path to maturity. I am stealing from some of the best thinkers here. These recordings are not all the same with regard to how long they last. Werner Erhard. by transcending their own culture. not by trying to change. balance. will almost simultaneously be transcended as well. the current multinational corporate rule of the world. and in Western philosophy in the work of Leibnitz. This will change the cultures of the world. and thoughts. how they were built. The records that make up the mind are multi-sensory recordings. feeling states. but by transcending their own minds." which were little Lego™-like units of stored information) includes this definition: The mind is a linear arrangement of total multi-sensory recordings of successive moments of now. What Is A Mind And How Does It Work? them. but the way the world is governed will significantly change. Before we tell the story about how her mind was built and how it used her. We intend to be a movement that keeps on moving. Ohio. hopefully. This work. the existentialists.jagia-07146. and perceptual and cognitive theorists in psychology. This is the story of Sally Jean Henry and her life up to age nineteen. based on the bottom line. We are becoming a movement. plow under to make room for something new we never even dreamed about. and how they operate. and Tor Norretranders. Taoism. Our revolution starts with the understanding of our own minds.co. in the United States of America. I acknowledge primary recent contributions by L. I am discussing the following questions: What is a mind? What is a mind for? How does a mind get built? How does it work? How can you tame one and keep it from running away with you? What is a Mind? The model of the mind provided by L. This community already exists and is growing and I intend to do everything in my power to support it until I die. touch.nr . Vedantic philosophy. Ron Hubbard. which the next generation will thank us for. is to help individuals to change. She was born in 1980 and she grew up in Cleveland. This is a good definition of the fundamental reactive mind: stored records of events that occurred as we got born and grew up. not just videotapes but recordings that include taste. We will live long and prosper as the world gradually turns our way—and then suddenly blossoms into a whole new garden. and then. phenomenologists. let's talk generally about what a mind is. Yoga. (who spoke of "monads. I expect to help this already existing community become conscious of itself by consistently training trainers to run Radical Honesty® workshops and by conducting workshops myself and writing books as our community of conscious cocreators grows larger. whatever it is. which results in communities of support for transcendence through being radically honest.2. and the process will probably not be gradual. This may or may not be traumatic. with a bow to Liebnitz. smell. We invite you to join us. A Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. because cultures are only habitual mind-sets with a lot of emotional attachment. Ron Hubbard. I acknowledge the source of this conversation in Buddhism. co. including our veins and arteries and capillaries." the mind thinks. We have minds in order to survive. A mind is useful for our survival if it helps us be successful at assimilating food and water and running it through the tubes so that we are sustained in being. a comedian noted for his tightness with money. For example. we became independent of the ocean by creating our own ocean inside called the bloodstream. We survive now by putting water and food in one end of the tube and running it through our other tubes. Millennia ago in our evolution. are a-tube-within-a-tube construction. created on his radio show a skit that took place in Central Park in New York City. We haven't quite answered the question "What is a mind for?" A more complete answer is: "A mind is for the survival of the being. Eventually. We have a tube of skin covering up many more tubes inside us. The mind is its own mechanic. in considering the survival of the being." And the mind can come to think that its own survival is more important than the survival of the being. When we do this we have fulfilled our mission to survive and the mission of our species to survive. and they vary in length from a few seconds to several hours. All in all. and finding other tubes to play with long enough to create more tubes. comes up with the idea that it also has to survive so the being can survive. The problem is that the tool called the mind is what the being does its considering with! The mind. or of anything the being considers itself to be. Suddenly we are talking about more than tubes here. and our digestive system. It's a tube maintenance program. Jack Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. What is a Mind For? A mind is for survival. A mugger stuck a gun in Jack's ribs and said.beginning of a recorded moment is demarcated by noting some significant-to-you event that stands out at the beginning of a moment. this sounds easy. they are all in a linear arrangement. The sum total of these stored recordings is the fundamental reactive mind. Human beings. But there is one small problem. They are collected and stored in a linear fashion from early in our life to recently in our life. These moments are recorded and stored as records in our brains. The mind gets to thinking that its own survival is what it is for! "Because my survival as a being depends on me. we then put a male tube inside a female tube and make another tube.nr . biologically. The mind serves the survival of the being if it is of some use in assimilating things to put in the front end of the tube.jagia-07146. "Moments of now" vary in length according to clock time. If we continue to do it long enough and survive to pubescence. "Your money or your life!" With his thumb under his chin and forefinger on his cheek. "I must preserve myself at all costs. when we defecate and urinate. and they are total multi-sensory recordings in succession." This addition to the definition of the purpose of the mind engenders a problem. and through little tubes that come to the surface of the skin where we sweat. and lasts until you consider it played out. Jack Benny. The mind knows it has to be maintained and it is in charge of its own maintenance. everything we put in comes out again through tubes at the other end. "I'm thinking! I'm thinking!!" He was having a difficult time choosing which was more important. A mind survives by being right and not wrong and by getting agreement. When I was eighteen years old. There sometimes appears to be a conflict between these two goals." It's not worth it. many of my contemporaries went to Vietnam. Your identification with your ideal has cost you your life. The mind makes mistakes and cannot always be trusted to maintain survival. Sometimes it doesn't preserve the survival of the being while it thinks it is serving its function having to do with its own survival.000 of your brothers to Kuwait." The mind is maintained at the expense of the life of the being. decisions.co. products. How Does a Mind Get Built? The records of the mind are formed and stored continually as each Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. After studying suicide notes left behind and examining all the stories and interviews with friends and families. and the mind decides its survival is the most important. this will show them!"— survives at the cost of life itself. In Eastern philosophy this is called the problem of ego. creations. "What is worth more. whereas the body's survival depends on being fed and kept well and free from harm. Once the mind has decided that Itself is what must survive. not disagreement. well-meaning young soldiers throughout history who have died for ill-conceived ideals by the dozens. This narcissistic preoccupation with itself and its own survival necessitates the defense of all its assessments. The mind is not a perfect instrument of survival." his mind wondered. what our minds say we are. trying to be "good Americans. You put on a uniform to preserve that identity and go with 80." and many died trying to maintain that identity.paused and drawled. let's say you are sixteen years old and you were born in Baghdad and you want to be a good Moslem and a good citizen and a good follower of Saddam Hussein. it believes its survival depends on being right whatever the cost. "Wel-l-l-l…" The mugger repeated himself and Jack responded peevishly.000 others sharing the same identity. What is more important: our image or our life? Two phenomenological psychologists named Schneideman and Farberow wrote a book about suicide after seventeen years of research in which they studied 350 cases of suicide. from other minds. They concluded that every suicide can be explained as "an attempt to maintain or enhance the self." "Now. The mind's primary job switches from survival to defending itself. The mind survives by being right. "My money or my life?" For another example." "I can't take it anymore. Suicide rates are highest among teens. and the Americans kill you and 60. judgments.nr . The mind is for the survival of the being or of anything the being considers itself to be. Just like all the pitiful.jagia-07146. they found a theme that seemed to apply in all cases. his money or his life. and so forth. The mind misfires. The mind would rather be right and die than be wrong and live. The mind's survival depends on being right. stories. we can let whom we consider ourselves to be. Teenagers identify with their self-image rather than their being. cost us our life. The internal judge who makes the assessments about life—"It's too hard. her brother snatches up the boat. For an example of a Class A event. The criteria of selection for storage on one spindle as opposed to another are as follows. and C. "She's not hurt.nr . and head on the concrete sidewalk at the bottom of the steps. The next thing she knows. One of the first of these recorded Class A events is our own birth. arm. Rags. The trauma of childbirth Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. It's a sunny day and the wind is blowing through the trees and Sally is busily engaged pushing her toy sailboat back and forth across the little pond with her brother.jagia-07146. cleans her cuts. let me reintroduce you to Sally Jean Henry and pursue her story starting when she was a young child. Her dog Rags is licking her face. B. All the records of total multi-sensory recordings of successive moments of now can be divided into three types. talking to a neighbor lady. Class A Events Spindle A stores records of events involving a threat to the person's survival. who is five and a half. Sally is four years old and is playing with her brother. "My boat! My boat!" Rags chases both of them. and a threat to her survival. She misses the steps but lands hard on her shoulder. Her mother comes running up and kneels in front of her. she is coming out of a fog. she's not hurt!" in the background. They are sailing a toy sailboat in a small pond at the playground in a park near her house. puts on battle ribbon Band-Aids™ and gives her some M&Ms™. Her mother is there. These stored records are called Class A events. it may be modified in conscious memory. it may be partially forgotten. is there playing with some other dogs and children. but in some complete form it remains as a total multi-sensory recording of a Class A event. Sally knows that the boat is hers and she starts running after Tom yelling. Tom. It is a Class A event. making her squint. As they approach the other side of the park. Tom is saying. it may become buried. a partial loss of consciousness. her brother runs down three concrete steps. The record may or may not remain conscious. trying to catch her breath.co. rolling over. The moment of record started when her brother grabbed Sally's boat and ended when her mother gave her the M&Ms™. a little anxiously. We all have many of these events in our lives and therefore we have many records of them. Sally makes a total multi-sensory record of it at four years of age. Her arm and shoulder hurt and she feels nauseated. Rags gets tangled up in her feet and she falls headfirst from the top of the first step.individual grows older. Her dog. pain. They can be thought of as records stored on three spindles. in which she experienced pain. and a partial loss of consciousness. She scrapes her left arm and shoulder and bumps her head as she falls and the wind is knocked completely out of her. we can sort all the records of the mind into three groups. Sally Jean Henry: Scene One. says "My boat!" and starts running away with it. That is. Her mother picks Sally up and carries her home. Imagine three spindles for three different kinds of records of the mind: Spindles A. The sunlight reflects off her mother's glasses into her eyes. but just as Sally gets there. Suddenly. That's the end of the event. with strong emotion. Rags is running behind her. We all have a bunch of Class B records of loss. sunshine. His sudden. She follows him. a partial loss of consciousness. Let's say it's twelve years later and that same little girl. Rags follows her. usually negative. Sally Jean Henry: Scene 2. D. There is a screech of brakes and a thud. with strong emotion. brothers. dump trucks. grass.co. and licked her face in the previously stored Class A event. She realizes he is dead and begins to cry. shocking loss becomes a permanent Class B record in her mind. wet sticky things. We have records in our memory of threats to our survival. and have stored a number of Class A and B events. M&Ms™. parks. any earlier or later records of trees. sidewalks. This is a Class B event—a sudden shocking loss. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. dogs. Sally. shock. Her hand feels sticky and she smells blood. got tangled up in her feet. has grown to be nineteen years old. Rags has been hit by a dump truck. and trying to avoid that happening. She runs back. falling. It's like an accountant or a lawyer or some other kind of deal killer who is hell-bent on anticipating the possible recurrence of some tragedy that has happened before. She's running on a sidewalk behind her brother Tom.nr . toy boats. How Does the Reactive Mind Work? Here's how the associative/reactive mind works when we are adults. involves pain. Every new stimulus from outside ourselves after about seven or eight years of age just triggers a whole chain of associations. EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD is associated as a threat to our survival! The mind is essentially a paranoid instrument. next to the stadium. Class B Events Class B events stored on Spindle B involve a sudden shocking loss.jagia-07146.C. and they are associated with every other recording of everything we have experienced. associated with a previous Class A event. being near the ground. ponds. or one very much like it. breezes. and of loss. She bends down to look at Rags and touches him. her brother cuts to the right and runs across the street.for the baby meets all the criteria of a Class A event. We are on guard. Suddenly. usually negative. looking out for trauma and trouble at all times—and that's what a mind is. Getting born. She looks back. and so on are all events that can be stored separately but with their association with A and B remaining intact. for most of us. and a threat to our survival. We can't grow up without experiencing these kinds of events and storing them. Sally is seven years old now. fur. She is a pretty young woman and she is a freshman at George Washington University in Washington. which we are to avoid in the future in order to survive. and something in the event related to a previous Class A event. So by the time we are seven or eight years old. Rags was running in the park. eyeglasses. steps. Class C Events Class C records are anything at all that occurs in the experience of a person which can be associated with Class A or Class B events. For Sally. Anything in the world that is associated with spindle A and B events can be separately recorded and is called a Class C event. Sally leans back against a tree and Gary comes over to sit beside her. "You're not hurt. thinking. but it isn't. instead of nausea. she is just a freshman and wants to "play the field" and doesn't want to be tied down right now. he's going to go to medical school. Her Class A record was reactivated in association with Gary. "Ouch!" He says. just barely. Control is an illusion provided by the quick thinking (but not quite quick enough to actually be in control) reflective mind. Sally leans back against the tree. "Ouch.jagia-07146. Option 2. Sally has all kinds of rational explanations: he's not her type. Then. she will have all kinds of valid reasons for marrying him: his family is wealthy. but she feels nauseated and mildly anxious and slightly uncomfortable.) The Illusion of Control The rational.Sally Jean Henry: Scene 3. His saying "You're not hurt. Sally Jean Henry: Scene 3. As he leans over to sit down beside her. "You're not hurt.co. Gary comes to sit next to her and squeezes her knee. He replies. When he phones. he doesn't have a good sense of humor. The reactive mind works according to associations—links between records formed in previously experienced events. but rationalizations to justify the choices already made by associations of the reactive mind. however. Let's say the same events occur on the picnic with a slightly different outcome from the same associative chain." and the tone of voice in which he said it. "We are most deeply asleep at the switch when we fancy we control any switches at all." and as he leans down to kiss her the sunlight glints off his glasses. you're not hurt. She dropped him because her associative mind identified him with her partially forgotten Class A event from when she was four years old. They've had some wine and cheese and a few bites of food. he squeezes her knee. Sally goes to a park on a picnic with her boyfriend of several weeks. and so on. She says. just as he bends over to kiss her. you're not hurt. But her associative mind chose him prior to all those reasonable rationalizations. accidentally. These rational explanations. lick the very edge of her lip. but this time when he kisses her.nr . Gary. The reflective mind just tags along closely behind the reaction and generates explanations to maintain the illusion of control. she doesn't return the call. they are the same religion. the sunlight glints off his glasses right in her eyes and she squints. you're not hurt. It's a sunny day and the wind is gently blowing through the trees. After the picnic they go home separately." Our rational decisions really aren't decisions at all. and so on. at least the first time around. She married Gary to bring her dog Rags back to life. he does. she feels an insane urge for him to lick her face! As he pulls back. combined with the glare of the sun off his glasses making her squint just when he kissed her brought back the pain and nausea and the threat to her survival she experienced when she fell and hurt herself. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. If you ask her why she quit dating Gary. and she avoided him thereafter. (A lot of us married our dogs. She never goes out with him again. Option 1. at the end of a French kiss." and some vague discomfort comes over her. reflective mind thinks it is in control. She marries him! If you ask Sally why she married Gary. He kisses her and she kisses him back." she says. have nothing to do with why she dropped Gary. As writer Annie Dillard says. she distinguishes in the same way the breast. If you think you know why you got married or why you didn't. That is. Kelly's The Psychology of Personal Constructs. An example of formation of an initial idea may be as follows. cries. or why you got divorced or why you didn't. even temporarily. then mother. several things that follow from it are quite obvious. from very early on in life.co. then her crib. If we make this model of the mind temporarily true just for an experiment in this moment. volumes I and II. then daddy. In a short while. All the reasons you have come up with for anything are suspect. Our thought processes are merely rationalizations of reactions of a paranoid reactive mind. We fool ourselves into believing that we are in charge of our lives through having concepts about life. With a kind of second order of association. we begin to form thoughts by comparisons based on replicated events. The baby has repeated experiences of being hungry and crying. 1. then her room. and confirms her little hypothesis. gets fed. But the concepts about life are not what our "decisions" are based on. These records are made based on comparisons of replicated experiences.nr .The Reflective Mind On top of the reactive mind. is a more thorough explanation of the development of what we are here calling the reflective mind. we have records of yet another kind stored in our minds. it is kind of disorienting." Then a little concept emerges based on distinguishing feeding and non-feeding events from the ocean of experience. Our "choices" are reactions. events that are repeated and remembered as similar get compared to a contrasting event along a common dimension of relatedness. The minimal requirements for a thought to exist are three: a similarity between two things. you are seriously deluded. All of what you might call "values" of yours are Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. using replicated events. the baby feels hungry. something that is different. Your belief that you are in control is a complete illusion. and so on. If this is considered to be true. The baby has repeated experiences of being nursed." In linear time. and an overriding construct of relatedness. the reflective mind is formed. If A and B are males and C is a female. or picked a certain path in life or didn't.All the beliefs you have defended were merely for the sake of providing you an illusion of control. Every thought about what was right or why you were doing or had done anything were just after-the-fact rationalizations for choices you had already made by reaction. The overall relatedness may be just "events. or had children or didn't. The baby builds a little memory of feeding events and compares them to a non-feeding event. use it as a temporary model. As she matures. Sit with this for a minute. In George A. or got remarried or didn't. and so on. I'm not asking you to believe this instead of whatever you believe. they are related by an all-encompassing construct we call "gender.jagia-07146. the mind we call the reflective mind is born. Just try it on for size. Basically. The reflective mind is an interlocking hierarchy of subsets of these trinitarian concepts. imagine it to be true just for the time being. or moved to another location or didn't. Concepts are formed from these minimalist requirements starting from very early in life. is the sales pitch that most of us are calling reality. one level of description alone and two levels of abstraction from experience. ever. 2.The truth is you're not in control at all. the meaning made out of the story that occurred. Whenever we make mistakes. For any event in the world that any human being participates in. who both had been drinking.jagia-07146. the story made about what occurred. "I will never.co.nr . I kept saying to myself and my brothers. We kids were all scared." In my own life. quietly within my own Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. intense resolves to avoid replication of certain experiences. when I was about ten years old." When we got within a mile of home I said to myself. and the meaning made out of the story about what occurred. because of the surrounding Judeo-Christian shame and blame context. What most of us call reality is just a story about reality or a story we have about the story. we make little resolves in our developing linear reflective minds. We start to make explanations to pretend we were in control at an early age. We said to ourselves. or form is to stick with merely describing what happened." Explanations become important as proof of being oriented and in charge at about that age. particularly to the baby who was crying at the top of his lungs. Our spouse hits a certain note in their tone of voice or says something a scolding parent said in a Class A or B event and an argument ensues about something in current time. In our particular culture. particularly. ever. You! The only thing one can do to be in control in any way. my little brother (one year old). I experienced the following intense event: My younger brother (nine years old). and all your attempts to explain in order to fool other people only show who was really fooled all along. shape. The most abstract level. Amos. We make these intense resolves many times between ages two and sixteen years and we hold on to them tightly as guidelines for life for the ensuing years. and I were in the back of the car. Most arguments between partners in a couple are reiterations of records of feelings and events from the past triggered by each other. were in a loud shouting argument. Any explanation will do.fundamentally rationalizations for behavior you were not in control of. we become more sophisticated in learning how to blame ourselves for anything bad that happened to us (from about three or four years of age forward). We'll be home in a few minutes. All the theories you have expounded explaining your motivation for doing thus and such are a waste of time. there are always at least three levels from which to report the event. was about four years old he explained to me in great detail how his Big Wheels were faster than the other kids' Big Wheels because they were more "sharp. let this mistake happen again. Sometimes these explanations themselves become part of what is stored as a record. 3. When my son. quietly within our own minds. Rationalizing the Choices of the Reactive Mind We keep reacting to events from our past that are triggered by what happens to us in current relationships to people. In the front seat my mother and stepfather. "We'll be home in a few minutes…. There is what occurred. my stepfather hit my mother in the face. We were trapped in the back seat.jagia-07146. It was a resolve based not only on that experience but on previous experiences triggered by that one and it had the emotional force of a lesson based on previous trauma.co.mind. The light reflects off the page and goes to your eye. She was screaming and hitting back. Such resolves only further delude us into thinking we are in control (because we "should" have been in control and we weren't). We began running up the road. Isn't that just pathetic? Aren't we just unbelievable pitiful fools? Is it possible to keep our own reactive mind from determining our life based on very old data? Is it possible to actually have any real control over our lives when we have such a vested interest in preserving an illusion of control based on what we imagine other people think we should think and on childhood resolves? Before we attempt to answer those questions. our partially conscious memory of our linear mind's early resolves to preserve an illusion of control seems to be what we usually call "thinking. It appears to be just an exercise of imagination. became a theme in my life. It was a two-door sedan and we were trapped in the back and the car was sliding sideways on the gravel road. When the car finally came to a sliding halt. I preserved an illusion of control by blaming myself for being caught off guard and not doing a good enough job of caretaking. and began beating her more. What we are doing. We're home. to be continually on guard and not take anything for granted." But just then. we say to ourselves. Blood splattered on us. This Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. As I ran. is reviewing the lessons of old that were themselves an illusory attempt at an earlier time to preserve an illusion of control. "making up our mind" may be more like "making up" any other story. slammed on the brakes." As it turns out. then. Out of this. and jumped out of the car with the baby in my arms and my other brother right behind me. The Being Beneath the Mind You are now looking at ink on a page or pixels on a screen. we will be in control like we should have been then. carrying the baby and crying. It's just over this hill. through the lens to the back of the eyeball. Then all-in-one-motion I grabbed the door handle. let's add in one more idea. Is Actual Control Over Our Life Really Possible? Even when we are not simply reacting unconsciously and rationalizing the reaction. The next time. so the next time we will be. caretaking became my method of preserving an illusion of control. I said to myself: "Always remember! You're never there until you are there! You are never home until you are home! Nothing is over until it is over! Don't ever make the mistake of thinking you are there until you are there!" This resolve. pushed the door open. to be wary on behalf of my brothers and protect them by not making false assumptions. and by swearing I would never do such a careless thing again. a certain chemical reaction is triggered. "Okay. we're here. pushing her forward into the windshield.nr . and there. I held the baby tightly in one arm in a total panic while I hit the back of my mother's seat with my body as hard as I could. and you also make meaning out of the words being spoken or read probably using your frontal lobes. What counts—we all know. It is not important to who you usually think you are. The place where you are creating seeing the words is in your brain.nr . You are the creator of the world and you have no control. as Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. and drum in your ear.jagia-07146. effortlessly. And for all practical purposes that appears to be true. Yet. You die. You experience the words on the page. This creation by perception is the most magnificent thing you will ever do. You are creating the perception of the words on this page in your brain and experiencing them as outside of you. a chemical reaction occurs. you keep everything out there looking constant. Nothing you ever achieve with your mind or your life will come close to matching the miracle of creation of the world by your involuntary nervous system.reaction throws off an electron that causes another chemical reaction that throws off an electron that causes another chemical reaction and there is an electrochemical transmission up the optic nerve to the visual cortex. in the visual cortex. If someone makes noises with their voice box near you. It happens automatically simply because you exist as the perceptual organizing machine you are. the vibrations reach the hammer. This is all completely effortless. I think when you die the world will come to an end. immediately interpreting both what you see and what it means. So I want you to consider these two ideas at once now. You are out of control. We all know that doesn't really count. There. anvil. You create the whole world in your brain by a chemical reaction. however. You do the same thing with sound. all the other people in your life. many. don't we?—is all that hype we have been taught. You are creating the room you're in or whatever surrounding you have around you. The world ends. many times per second. yet it is ongoingly. just by being here.co. millisecond by millisecond. that has to do with our performance and our products and our appearance of being in control. Control is purely an illusion of your reflective mind. Who you really are. and you hear the sound. I think that who you are is the creator of the world and who I am is the creator of the world. the world comes to an end. Just like a movie projector provides an illusion of real action by rapidly displaying slightly changing images. I think when I die the world will come to an end. and you see the words. is the creator of the world. You do this electrochemical act of creating many. so it doesn't make you special in any comparative way. outside of your brain. but where you consider the world to be is outside of you. yet you give yourself no special credit for it because it doesn't count. You integrate the sight and sound and other sense data in your corpus collosum. I think whenever one of us creators dies. at the same time. right now. and everything in view of you at all times. because everyone else does that too. to protect you from discerning that you are helplessly at the beck and call of your reactive mind and of circumstances beyond your control. a chemical reaction occurs causing an electrical transmission to your brain. the most magnificent thing you will ever do in your life. It requires no strain or effort or trying on your part. So. "Let's pretend that what is not here is more important than what is here. or verses. You play a game that something that is not here is more important than what is here. became the common obsession. What is the View of the Illusion of Control from the West? There is a story told about all the Greek gods sitting around on Mount Olympus. They were all-knowing and all-seeing. I am reminding you.a being. They forgot it was a game for a long time. which means yoke or union—that which connects together intellect and spirit. or being and mind—is primarily concerned with exactly the topic we are now considering. in the second sutra. forget that playing toward the future is just a game and that our fundamental identity as creators in the moment. the first statement would be. is reality. You are the creator of the world. The first sutra says what the set of one hundred sutras is about. We are creators without any real control. It is just pretending. as summarized in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. It is just a pretense. pretending that what is not here is more important that what is here. In Sanskrit. to say in one statement what all of physics is about. You are out of control. They knew all the past and all the future. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. It was just something you got in your mind from your upbringing that made you forget that you were God. after quite a while of playing the game. The structure of one hundred two-line statements precedes the content. The idea that something that is not here is more important than what is here is just a game. organized in a specific form. For example. they forgot it was a game. just something relatively new in western history.nr ." Then we would have ninety-nine statements left to cover all of physics. yet you are the creator of the world. So. In our example. and after they played and played. countering the mind's distortions is given the highest priority. in the flow of creation. because we have minds. It's my job now to remind you. In the millennia-old philosophy and practice of yoga. Yoga. You are the creator of the world and you are not in control. God. there is a form of embodying all there is to be known about any area of study into one hundred sutras. These are short phrases. for all practical purposes. It's just a game. "These are the sutras of physics. We human beings. if we were to put the whole body of knowledge we call physics into one hundred statements. traditionally. you are the creator of the world. One of their favorite games soon became one called.jagia-07146. in fact until right now. To entertain themselves and pass the time.co. and it made a modification of how you lived. Just consider both of those things true at the same time. All control is an illusion. I am speaking to you directly now. very soon." This game. the world comes to an end. they became bored. it's just a game. we would be expected. The second sutra is designated. What is the View of the Illusion of Control from the East? We are not talking about something new in history. And when you die. they started inventing and playing games. limited to about a two-line statement. as the most comprehensive overview of the whole body of work and all the practices of the area under consideration. Authentic spiritual practices are for the sake of experiencing reality directly. the second sutra had to encompass the unitary theme that made sense of all these developments. as the yogis instruct us to. The reactive mind is just an accidental random chain of associations of stored memories. When we inhibit the modifications. These methods include Karma Yoga.jagia-07146. and C events and the reflective (logical or linear) mind that comes up with the explanations. hundreds of sects. Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras.co. is: "The objective of all yoga is to bring about an inhibition of the modifications of the mind. These minds are the smoke and mirrors that keep us from attending to the reality of being. principles. "The objective of all yoga is to bring about the inhibition of the modifications of the mind. How do you do that? With yoga. and the philosophy of yoga had all undergone literally thousands of years of development through many languages in various geographical locations in the world. So. memories. By the time he wrote them. or obliterate them. if we assume that the reactive mind truly determines how we live and what we do and what attitude we have about it. the one that most comprehensively covers its subject. He doesn't say it is to destroy them." The mind includes the reactive mind that is based on stored memories of Class A. Just hold them back a second or two.500 years. The second sutra of the Yoga Sutras. We need each others' data. and hundreds of practices. and so on.nr . We are all engaged in a gigantic experiment to discover and invent what a human being is. lovemaking. Just decrease or delay the effects of the little suckers a millisecond or two. sex. performing physical exercise and stretching. loving. Hatha Yoga. we discover what is here in the world of present tense reality. being present with a child. These yogas of service. meditating. Whatever works! Creating art or music. morals. or overcome them—just inhibit them. work. working— anything you can attend to for a sustained number of seconds or minutes without the modifications of the mind! The modifications of the mind are all those records. many different methods for the practice of yoga had been developed while the teachings of yoga spread over most of the continents in the world. Our only hope to keep from being interrupted to death by our own minds is by using one mind to inhibit the modifications of the other. physical health. and the reflective mind Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. or do battle with them. What is the Current Cultural and Scientific Synthesis with Regard to Being and Mind? Telling the truth is the particular yogic practice necessary in our time to inhibit the modifications of the mind. conclusions. There had been thousands of teachers of Yoga. other than the mind. love. The reflective mind is the rationalizer who makes up good reasons to justify the associations of the reactive mind and makes up these reasons to be consistent with resolves made by a child." Notice that Patanjali says that the objective of all yoga is just to inhibit the modifications of the mind. Tantric Yoga. Bakti Yoga. What kind of yoga? Any kind.After Yoga had been around for 2. and beliefs we have stored from the past. B. Thus. Kundalini Yoga. Consciousness is not a superior unit that directs messages down to its subordinates in the brain. "Consciousness cannot initiate any action. "Consciousness portrays itself as the initiator." Norretranders writes." "Sitting at the computer. words or letters—just voltages and charges representing the ones and zeros of binary code. generates its own user illusion: the interpretation called consciousness.preserves the illusion of control through explanation and interpretation. "In recent years. …The notion of consciousness as a veto is a very beautiful. Consciousness is the instance of selection that picks and chooses among the many options nonconsciousness offers up. folders. The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size. in a chapter entitled "The Half Second Delay. "Consciousness is a fraud. trash cans.jagia-07146. In a similar way. author of the recent book. It Gets Worse Tor Norretranders. very rich one. Astonishingly. by discarding decisions proposed by nonconsciousness." George Johnson. but it is not. and that the fundamental identity of ourselves as human beings is the being part that creates the world.. that they interact far more with the world and with each other than their consciousness thinks they do. In the consciousness section. Instead of overwhelming the user with a flood of useless information. but it can decide that it should not be carried out. the computer projects a simple array of metaphors: icons that can be manipulated to get things done. the operator is under a machine-induced hallucination." Norretranders compares consciousness to a concept invented by the computer scientist Alan Kay: "the user illusion. dragging documents into folders or into the trash can.co. says. (controlling a mouse). summarized some of his main points about consciousness in this way: "Most revealing of all are famous and controversial experiments by Benjamin Libet and other psychologists. … Consciousness plays a far smaller role in human life than Western culture has tended to believe. in reviewing Norretranders' book in The Washington Post. .nr . Its kinship with Darwinism and natural selection is not its only parallel Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. throwing away unneeded data. that. scientific investigations into the phenomenon of consciousness have demonstrated that people experience far more than their consciousness perceives. A half a second before the decision is made to flex the muscle. among other things. Subjects wired with measuring electrodes are asked to move a finger. that the control of actions that consciousness feels it exercises is an illusion. is it possible for a person to be consciously in control of his or her life? Wait. Consciousness works by throwing suggestions out. an electrical signal is detected in the brain." Norretranders concludes that. the brain. the 'decision' seems to be made by unconscious neurons before the self becomes aware of its desire to act. Inside the computer chips there are no documents.. when we become more identified with being than mind. In my book. a mind is a terrible thing. before you begin thinking." The objective of yoga is to inhibit the primary function of consciousness—its veto power! What is left when thinking is inhibited? What is there to notice? Is there noticing without consciousness? Clearly there is. most of which we are never consciously aware of. who acts? There are plenty of people who testify to this.jagia-07146. But even that is not simple—it's an interpreted perception." It runs around asking questions like "Who died? Are you mourning? Where is the grave? How long did you know this person? How long have they been dead? How long did they live? When will this funeral be over?" The mind is obtuse. I am not conscious. They associate and rationalize and maintain the "user illusion" that the mind is in charge and initiating action in the world. behind. Self one is the one who knows everything there is to know about playing tennis. "Draw and shoot before your hand touches the pistol.co. our bodies. blocking presence to life. If you think. He is acting without thinking. It asks questions desperately to find out what is going on. at least. in the movie "Little Big Man." I suggest that. we regress to being in touch with the source of our experience. you are interpreting interpretations Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Tim Gallwey." This view of consciousness as veto power over the options of all that is nonconscious becomes even more interesting when compared to the second sutra of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras: "The objective of all yoga is to bring about an inhibition of the modifications of the mind.in the history of thought. frenetic. even noticing." He means he is not self-conscious. As I have said before.nr ." It is possible that we can act before we register acting. in the moment. Those perceptions themselves are at least a half-second behind in registering what occurred from the impingement of the bandwidths of impact on the senses from the world. Radical Honesty. Self two is the one that can play tennis if it can get self one out of the way. based on past experiences of distinctions in perception that you use automatically but are not conscious of having learned. rather than the adolescent/adult identity of the mind that tells stories about experience and explains how it was in charge. the great tennis coach and author of The Inner Game of Tennis (and Golf." the main character played by Dustin Hoffman is being taught by his sister to be a gunslinger. We sometimes call this "being conscious of…. not aware of himself. says that we all have two selves. she says. insensitive to feeling." but even that. and Music. and Business). Our minds do not initiate anything. is a half-second behind! When. I repeatedly contrast "being" and "mind. Quite the contrary. not thinking. "The mind is like a reporter at a funeral. over time. This is when you are functioning at your best. As Marilyn Ferguson said. Waste it! Or at least just inhibit it for a few seconds! You create the world by perceiving it and your perceptions are more reliable than your conceptions. "When I go out on that football field. Who is it then. Joe Montana says. while blocking the noticing of what is going on. noticing without thought. the mind is always behind. self one and self two. He is not thinking and deciding what to do with the ball. It helps greatly to begin the practices that help you to notice being here. usually. who notices.co. we are always dealing with second-hand information and.You could possibly become a conscious creator of your life by using your reactive and reflective minds instead of being used by them.jagia-07146. and don't imagine that what you think is very important.Give up the illusion of control. 7. These Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Notice sensations in your body. I highly recommend all eight of these options. it is used second-hand information. therefore I am) as your culture has taught you all your life. Put simply. Then put your mind to work in service to your being. make a plan about how to get there.—representing representations—that will put you further away in time from your experience and further away from the data of the least representational form of your experience." That is. a whole new world of possibility opens up. therefore I think) rather than a mind with a being (I think. If All This is True. live by paying a lot of attention to immediate physical needs as a way of orienting yourself in the world. is not in control. You could dream up a future based on what you remember really liking in your life. 6. But how on earth can you live like this? The best way to start is to constantly do things that help you to identify with the being you are. 2. and use up your mind and body consciously on the trip from here to the tomb. The least degree of interpretation is the most reliable.If you are a being with a mind (I am. Be aware of being a moment-by-moment creator of the world.Know that you are already sufficiently taken care of by your involuntary nervous system. Noticing is a better mode of orientation than thinking.Focus on becoming "organismically self-regulating. rather than the mind you are. Your sense of agency in the matter of being sure that you are reasonably in charge is all nonsense. drink. though no perceiving occurs without some degree of interpretation. even though you can't keep from thinking. rest. Perceiving is superior to interpreting.Identify with your being. Forget it. Develop skill in noticing everything you can about what is going on within you and without you. eat. don't see your interpreter as your whole identity. Surrender your life to your involuntary nervous system. How Can We Live? What are the implications of this? What are the minimal inferences one can make from this model of the brain/mind? If this is true.Practice noticing. It's all stuff you are making up. a few immediate things are clear.nr . first of all. Notice the outside world. what should one do? Well. If you are thirsty. 1. which keeps you alive without having to think about it. Notice thinking. Besides. If you are tired. If you are hungry. Notice noticing. 3. 5. follow the plan to create what you envision. 4. 8. the rest of us need your data. Notice even your mind. Also. or what you usually call your self. who thinks. but do not value it as reality. Your consciousness.Tell the truth about what you think and how you are interpreting things. An intentionally well-wasted life is somehow less tragic than an unconsciously wasted life. A lifetime spent protecting your "story" is not a good lifetime. we all have illusions about having control of the world and our lives. honesty with others. From that space of uncertainty.nr . assumptions. This makes her a great teacher. yoga. assumptions. Summary Because of the way the mind is made up of selected recordings of unconsciously selected previous experiences. Go ahead and read the summary of this chapter and then start playing with the exercises at the end.co. and a rationalizing internalized judge who thinks she is in charge. and adopting a transcendent and non-defensive perspective. That's the nature of how things are. but in fact quite rich. you can begin to play. because we are moved to emulate her courage. By overcoming our culture's blind faith in the mind. Existential Anxiety This place is scary to actually live from—this not being in control. but moment to moment it brings up a lot of panic and fear. These associations.jagia-07146. training to die continually. We can take what comfort there is from sharing in the despair of attempting to control our life with our mind. Training to allow all of that to be there. Tibetan Buddhists have been talking about it and working with the fear that is triggered from the knowledge of not being in control for a long time." I believe Pema Chödrön unflinchingly faces the truth of her experience and reports honestly how it is for her. they should work now and we keep trying them over and over and ignoring any new evidence about their usefulness in current time. Instead of keeping your mind in the foreground in charge of your being.practices include but are not limited to: meditation. and beliefs. part of being born human. Yet the true nature of things is that you are never in control. "We have so much fear of not being in control. You can buy it intellectually. But it's almost like it's in the genes. In an interview in the Shambala Sun in March of 1997 reprinted in the Utne Reader in June the same year. that you can't accept that. So my own path has been training to relax with groundlessness and the panic that accompanies it. We vaguely feel that because childhood beliefs worked when we were younger. limit our adult lives. The details about how you do that are the focus of the rest of this book. we can see how these old Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. and beliefs. and put your being in charge of your mind. of not being able to hold on to things. which are championed to maintain an illusion of control. To stay in the space of uncertainty without trying to reconstruct a reference point. and sharing your experiences and your plans with others. switch figure and ground. when it is not something to be avoided. You're never in control. You can never hold on to anything. We are only occasionally conscious of these childhood-formed sets of associations. a Buddhist teacher named Pema Chödrön said. We use methods of survival based on association with early childhood events and we rationalize actions based on these associations with theories that we made up as children. 3. worry yourself from within your own mind? Think about your favorite way or ways of limiting yourself or stopping yourself. the same illusion-making capacity of the human mind can be harnessed intentionally to create a vision of a future life and bring it into being. After you read the next chapter. and if life is not working out. and then simply doing what we've noticed is needed. use Einstein's (but use Newton's again to actually build it). Work at this. He looked at the world differently than had Newton. whose model also works.jagia-07146. common sense function of noticing what is needed to take care of ourselves and our own.beliefs affect what we think. Exercise How do you get in your own way? The first step to discovering and inventing an answer to this question is to acknowledge how you DO get in your way. and that all the information is to be judged with regard to its usefulness rather that Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Luckily. warn yourself. Once we have perspective from which to view these limiting beliefs. If you want to build a dog house. What are your favorite "limiting beliefs?" From what automatic reactions of carefulness did you formulate those beliefs to justify placing those limits on yourself? (For example. The Dangers of Belief All the major scientific discoveries of the twentieth century have been based on shifts in perspective. Einstein invented the theory of relativity. How old were you when you started doing that "careful to be good" racket?) What are your main methods of maintaining your illusion of control? Do any of them involve self-blame and intense resolve as though you should be held accountable for being in control of your life? Write those down." --The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America We have lost touch with our simple. you might believe that if you are good. We have discovered that perspective is a matter of invention and that different perspectives yield different information.co. we can stop wasting effort on hiding our true selves. In our culture. coach yourself. Dysfunctional Family University. Write them down. that mankind are more disposed to suffer. it's because you were bad. and do. struggling to survive. How do you block yourself or interfere with yourself? How do you shoot yourself in the foot before the race is over? How do you talk to yourself. use Newton's theory. feel. than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. Save what you write because you will need it for exercises in the workbook section of this book. instinctual. we lead with our minds rather than with our noticing—a distortion of the happiness we were born with. Think about this.nr . If you want to build a bomb. concluding that you should redouble your efforts to be good. Do this now. you will be sent back to revise and edit your initial draft. tried it out in space and with subatomic particles. The World-Famous School Within Which We Grew Our Minds "…all experience hath shown. and can start living freer lives based on noticing before thinking. while evils are sufferable. and it worked. life will treat you right. BUT THE SAME THING BELIEVED IS A LIE! But. All personal life stories are just stories. that thinking often blocks noticing. All constructs are imaginary. When the full implications of this are finally integrated into religion. however. Nothing is absolute. All models are dysfunctional when we attempt to use them where they don't serve. when we recall the category. All models are just functional or dysfunctional toward certain ends. and a believer is someone who's suffering from hardening of the notions. government. philosophy—the list goes on—all the advances are in the direction of the relativity of models. theology. The human groups of the world have slowly begun to learn from each other that thinking and noticing are both important. If you experience something then you know it is the truth. IF YOU EXPERIENCE SOMETHING. you use one and throw it away. economics. All obligations. Vining. through the integration of Eastern and Western thought.jagia-07146. and very suddenly. particularly if we concentrate too hard on getting the picture right. ideas. sociology. But ideas are not like religious beliefs. and gods are mere structures of belief for certain ends. the growth of science. we think we have recalled the experience! We have recalled a picture of the experience only. For Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Nowhere is this more obvious than with regard to the limitations of cultural beliefs. it is now possible to question all belief. psychology. group psychotherapy." In physics. family life. I agree that we can't function without theories and ideas. said. because we wouldn't claim any certainty for them. mindsets. "The opposite of belief is experience.nr .whether it is "right" or "wrong. All concepts are fictional.co. allows us to gain detachment enough to see cultural moral values as merely beliefs. Possibility is not determined by belief. the world will be quite a different kind of place. A Unitarian minister named Randle E. linguistics. All shoulds are relative. Vining is talking about the tendency we all have to categorize our experience and then. organizational development. you say. The use and abuse of belief is the fundamental issue for the twenty-first century. we can't function without beliefs! Well. in a published sermon." Mr. This picture can trigger a new experience but it often doesn't. The greatest intellectual advance of the twentieth century is that. The transcendence of moralism (the main sickness of our time). The Integration of Knowing and Believing Western philosophy reflects a faith in thinking. but the same thing believed is a lie. THEN YOU KNOW IT'S THE TRUTH. while Eastern philosophy reflects a faith in noticing. All beliefs are relative. and individual psychotherapy. We do need a mental framework to help us interpret our experience of the world. They are working hypotheses—I call them notions. Models of all kinds are subsumed under what I call the Kleenex™ model. A belief is a hardened notion. and the ability to make comparisons of religions and cultures. Nothing is sacred except that nothing is sacred. We have also learned. education. True believers usually value their beliefs more than they value other people." We get free from our mind and notice the joy of being really connected with and aware of another person we love.example. Serbs and Albanians and so on can all vouch for the ultimate importance of being right and how it justifies the perennial murder of each other. and contact. you are one of us.nr . Pakistanis and Indians. put it behind a belief— preferably a belief about what it is you want to hide. Then we join up together with other believers and we are off to the races. The world is still suffering mightily from believers. If you want protection from any uncontrollable feelings. Go to war in the name of love if you can. communication. Moslems and Christians. Heretics Who are Beyond Belief There is a significant and rapidly growing minority of people in the world who realize personally the relativity of belief. We have discovered and invented ways to learn detachment from belief. Arabs and Jews. Radical Parenting: How to Raise Creators. but let's not be believers. The overbalanced stress on thinking by Westerners has been modified in the minds and hearts and actions of people all over the world. The most unlikely people are now practicing meditation. if you really want to hide something. "That was a wonderful experience and I should never forget it and everyone should have it. You can learn something by reading these books. Become a friend to me and my friends. the world will continue to go to hell in a handbasket. and openness to Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Serbs and Croats. Just hold the insights lightly. contemplation of and with the senses. Anyone who disagrees ought to be shot! Hiding From Experience by Believing Seriously. As long as people are less important than belief. Catholics and Protestants. Other people are expendable as long as the beliefs can be maintained. without attachment. There is some really good news in the current Zeitgeist as well. make up some belief about them and hold on for dear death. Then romanticize love and watch a lot of soap operas about love and make a lot of soap operas in your real life about love.jagia-07146. I am also writing another book. or become our opponent. If you want to avoid the experience of love. We then think. Be inspired if you are. including the person we were in love with. hide behind a belief in love." This originally generous impulse quickly becomes a belief and a "should" and a moralistic value to be imposed on others whether they are interested or not. How's that for a belief? That's what I believe and I am quite attached to it. but don't believe. We don't want our children raised that way anymore. We have let up on our demand that belief be given the status of reality. which is a training manual about how to raise heretics. Their own children are expendable. exercise. even be an advocate or an enemy. If you read beyond this point. but I recommend that you not believe a thing I say.co. be grateful and expressive or angry and expressive. many of us have had the peak experience of suddenly being delivered from the burden of intense worry and avoidance and the delivery into a new experience of freedom like that described by people who have been "saved. therefore I think" is a better premise. Take into consideration what you have just read. The benefits of this include creating things. The constant update of thought only occurs when the continuous recurrence of noticing is possible. we experience a big difference. It makes all the difference in the world. In our lifetimes. Thinking involves categories developed from previous noticing. but then the danger is always that new perspectives become merely another set of beliefs. therefore I am. is also the best trait for adults to have. lucky for us.people with different beliefs. For this reason. Save what you write for later use in the workbook section coming up. centered in being. and a growing number of experts can see that now. we now know that was wrong. It appears that the maximum beneficial use of the human machine requires a constant reintegration of noticing and thinking. I imagine you are engaged in the middle of life with other people. However. Slowly the wisdom of the heretics is integrated into the culture. If we assume that we are beings within which the mind resides. To learn from being is more fruitful than to be from learning. The Mind. conditions. that is a mistake. We have worshipped belief for untold millennia since our genetic pathway diverged slightly from our brother chimpanzee. After a few hundred million useless deaths and a couple thousand years of damaged suffering lives.nr . every belief system that cannot rapidly modify itself is falling apart. most of us will witness many downfalls as a result of the coming to an end of the long-honored human habit of reification and blasphemous worship of organized belief systems. but it is time we grew beyond that. what we have said so far is this: We all have minds and we all are beings. We humans in the West made a slightly aberrant turn back there when Descartes said. as cultures do. at all times and no matter how old they get. But well-intentioned Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. What we learn from studying how we be and how we have been is of value. and institutions to benefit the people of the culture. Our culture. communism is falling apart." Unfortunately. rather than minds within which the being resides. So is capitalism. doing your best to responsibly care for your children and raise them right. What we learn from studying what we have already learned is not worth much unless it is done from a transcendent perspective. Exercise Now revise and edit what you wrote about getting in your own way. at the end of chapter 2. with wisdom defeated again. has taught us to be ignorant. We are going to miss holy reification of belief terribly. as children have. A grounding in being. not limited by the previous set or "belief. "I am. including children. 4. So is fundamentalism of all kinds. The Truth About All Cultures Cultures operate consistently with a mythology that allows them to focus the energy of their members toward certain ends. this focus limits what we can notice outside the mindset of the myths we live by. the Culture and the Possibility of Recreating Both Now." For this reason.jagia-07146. I'm sure you're well-intentioned.co. "I think. and for that reason we are living out a script written years ago that determines almost everything we do. It is our given destiny to be delusional. We live in illusions that direct our attention to certain things and also block our view of what is out there in reality. not for self-assurance. You have a mind within which the culture we live in. and they have to closely match the survival skills from the individual's past. There are not really a lot of us. obsessiveness. I know this from personal experience with lots of parents and with lots of neurotic adults like yourself.people mislead and mistreat their children every day because of highly valued and unquestioned cultural ignorance. then we get to create some new illusions for the future. I'm sure you have plenty of them. The reason I know you are living in an illusion is because we all are. but those of us who have transcended our raising have found that living in a story of our own conscious creation is a lot less miserable than living in the survival story we came out of childhood with. Cultures live in the minds of individuals. It's out of these illusions of a possible future that we live the creative and intentional life. but always in a way consistent with some story. Creation of the future with conscious illusions (called visions) works best if the illusions meet two criteria: they have to involve making a contribution to other people in some way. or we should compete to overcome our adversaries. Human beings live in the real world. Some of us grow beyond that and.co. Most of us live in stories that were created for us by the conditions of life we started out in and survived in as children and the cultural prejudices we were born into. or maintain our belief in God or God will die. because the skills of maintenance and upkeep for those are already developed. or lower. righteousness. moralism. Most of us live our entire lives trapped in a story we desperately contrived so we could endure circumstances of middle. paranoia.jagia-07146. actually design the story we live out of. I certainly do. and actually damaging beliefs of any kind that people have been selling as reality in our culture for centuries—when we get over attachment to the image or the illusion of who we are. or any of the thousands of outdated. It is a mind full of hopelessly obsolete subsets of ignorant prejudice that compete with each other for dominance. but we can choose which illusions we live into. other than what we are looking for. I also have made plenty of mistakes of my own and produce my fair share of misleading data every day. We don't have any choice not to live by illusions. and the habit Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Living in a story is what we all must do because we are human. When we shed the delusional system that tells us life has a particular meaning. or be polite above all else.nr . lives. It's just that most of us don't know it. and other charming human characteristics. or upper-class child abuse in the culture in which we were raised. Illusions can be our friends if we can just get one point: illusions are for creating. misleading. all the time. as adults. or that we must be careful to avoid symbolic dangers. and that we heal the damage done by our previous attachments to beliefs that don't work anymore and haven't for a long time. including how we raise our children and how we treat each other. We all have the disease of moralism. they can design a life and education for their children in cooperation with the children themselves. the emotional attachment to ideas you invented to protect yourself from feelings in the past. All those folks who jumped out of the window when the stock market crashed were doing so to escape the negative meaning of the crash in a very limited view of life. and everything they thought. but doesn't believe in them) has a much happier and fulfilled life. Moralism is characterized as extreme attachment to moral principles—being trapped in a valuational continuum where judgments about right and wrong and good and bad are given excessive significance and emotional charge. Lying keeps you trapped in the jail of the mind.co. Human stress is caused by the mind of the individual suffering from stress. A person who understands the use of illusion from a position of transcendence or detachment (that is. or rejected. withholding. and Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. "We come into existence as beings and grow minds.structure can be used. When people can use illusions to design their future in a playful and creative way. I said. and at the same time model for the children what creating with illusions consists of. These principles become more important than life itself. where you can deal with other people and feelings to some degree of completion before you recreate the next mess in your life out of the unfinished business from the last completion you avoided." The books I'm writing are all dedicated to attempting to undo damage already done by overly moralistic parenting. Suffering comes from being trapped in the mind. If I am disappointed about an image I just dreamed up in the first place. One major thesis of these books is that the primary cause of most anxiety and most depression is being trapped in the mind. the mind becomes a jail. a person who uses illusions. and most of us lie habitually most of the time. The only thing that could rescue them from the jail of the mind was to start telling the truth about everything they had done. yadda yadda yadda. I call this fundamental dis-ease of being trapped in the mind moralism. We stay trapped in our minds because of various kinds of lying —outright lying. For the child raised by the standard attached-to-cultural-belief parent. lies of omission. My clients over the years have reflected the culture they grew up in. everything they felt. unable to notice because of constantly thinking.nr . pretense. it's quite different than feeling like dying because somebody was disappointed with. They had all been taught systematically to lie by the way they were parented and educated. which eventually come to so dominate the experience of being that there is little time or space left to attend to any aspects of life other than thought. the image of whom I truly believe myself to be. Radical Being In Radical Honesty: How To Transform Your Life By Telling The Truth.jagia-07146. unable to escape the categories you have made up for yourself and others from previous avoided experience. Being in jail is worrisome and depressing. and the ranting and raving of the mind. Telling the truth gets you back out into the real world. little white lies. hiding. co. and what they think. a mind used by the being who has escaped domination by the mind. About Growing and Not Stopping with Up Human development is a continuum of growth of the mind out of the being (when we are babies). As a psychotherapist. moving. given that they lived in the dark ages. We get the same results: anger. garden variety neurotic ways? It clearly starts with how we were parented. but you're raising your kids the same way anyhow. It's lying that keeps one from gaining freedom from domination by Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. as one grows a mind.nr . what they feel. begging.the secret of the good life is learning how to manage the disease like one manages herpes or diabetes and other incurable. When people begin telling the truth about what they have done. and finally. diseases. Most parents believe that the primary responsibility of parenting is moralizing intensely! This is the worst piece of delusional data extant today. discomfort. berating. and scolding ourselves and each other and our children. Old-Timey Parenting as Cultural Instruction How do most of us become repetitively self-limiting and self-torturing in our standard. with no respect for the continuum of genetic learning from which we came. but your method of survival still probably limits you much more than necessary. How capable we are in keeping body and soul together as adults is directly contingent upon staying in touch with the experience of being in the body—noticing. You are very likely to be more worrying and worrisome than necessary. The full path of growth from birth to maturity consists of the birth of being. You might already know that being trapped in performance mode is pretty screwed up. but somewhat controllable. the growth of the mind. and somatic ailments due to stress. we do this over and over again and expect a different result each time. and manifesting energy doing things other than thinking. trying to convince everyone that if we would all just live up to our expectations we'd be happy. a period of domination of the being by the mind. where male intellect was thought to reign supreme. Most of us keep repeating the same kind of behavior in relation to other people and ourselves. playing. my main therapeutic method (for people who have been torn loose from contact with being and are trapped in their minds and kept out of contact with being) is coaching people to tell the truth. The main thing seems to be to grow beyond the limitations imposed by your culture. there are some ideas that can be a big help.jagia-07146. Your parents did the best they could. Keep reading. through a period in which the mind captures all our attention (adolescence). depression. You've probably survived well enough to go on to have children of your own. In our neurotic way. This is the core source of middle class child abuse. Happiness and freedom depend upon not losing touch with being in the body and in the world. and then to a time in which the liberation of the being from domination by the mind occurs (maturity). trying to fill up emptiness with good behavior to get brownie points along the way as a pathway to happiness. anxiety. they free themselves from the jail of their own mind. one's own mind. rather than in obedience to interpretations she has worked hard to brainwash herself with. including her own body. and is threatening to those whose world depends upon belief. it is the result of beginning to notice things in the world all over again. When one who has been damaged by how they were raised begins to heal and become whole again. You start living from what you notice you want rather than what your mind says you should want. "What is the best way to raise children so that they don't have to be torn loose from their grounding in being?" Even though young humans must go through a long period of growth of a mind. In this view of human development as a continuum of growth of the mind out of the being. when you have to go to the bathroom you go. When a person "loses their mind and comes to their senses" in psychotherapy. the most obvious question that arises concerning child rearing is: "How can we allow minds to grow without losing touch with being?" The most important question before all the nations of the world at the turn of the century is. and out of touch with the joy of living. but she doesn't have much faith in her mind as a source of directions.jagia-07146.co. You are centered in the world of noticing as the foreground and your opinions are in the background—and changing constantly! This includes cultural values of all kinds. When a person who was once divided against herself. can they do it without losing the nourishment of commonplace experience? Can they learn about the values for sale by the culture they are dumped into without having their spirit crushed? In All Cultures: Let's Quit Brainwashing Our Children to Be Moralists Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. the healing is a result of establishing balance out of imbalance. but that is after the reorientation to experience has occurred. there is a period of troublesome disorientation. when you're tired you rest. becomes whole again through psychotherapy. once one has become reoriented to experience. and then the liberation of the being from domination by the mind. a reunification of being and mind. So when you're thirsty you get a drink. and so on. Thinking loses its prior status as a primary ruler and jailkeeper of being and becomes more like the chauffeur. Practicing radical honesty with every human around you is the first step in this transformation. simply to share with others (including others she's thinking about). The mind becomes background and the being in the body is in the foreground. Opinions do change. A person who has become whole again makes the best parent.nr . and parenting and teaching must assist them in this task. and running her life more in obedience to what she notices. and whatever else helps you comprehend their communication to you. sensation. and what Wilhelm Reich and Fritz Perls called "organismic selfregulation. when you're hungry you eat. Thinking itself becomes merely something else to notice and use." To become grounded in experience again is not just changing some opinions. She reports her mind's machinations to others. You notice other people's expressions and tone of voice and changes in coloring and pace of speech. Reorientation occurs through getting back in touch with gravity. This instruction results in a miserable childhood with children mistreated in the dysfunctional ways of the tradition. it could Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. self-righteous. There are also teachers who don't yet recognize this. damage children. acting "on automatic" based on how we were raised. we teach them the same anxieties that were trained into us. but they are operating within a system that is impossible to survive in without being agents of misery. There are teachers in the educational system who know that stringent moral instruction at an early age doesn't work. Even parents who know better often continue to damage their children in spite of what they know. in trying to help our children. and manipulative people. Many among us know that stringent moral instruction at an early age doesn't work. the people of compassion too often quit. their primary function is to be outlaws within a corrupt culture. and moralizing that is already in place." parents allowed their children to learn from experimenting and learned with them? What if love and encouragement and an even-handed permission to experiment were given to children based on assuming they are okay to start with. taught at too early an age for the child to comprehend. and I say it does. to be worried and afraid. but too many of the teachers in charge of our children don't have a clue about the damage they do. Calling all Cultures! How might we design a better way for children to be raised so they don't have to suffer so much? What if children were allowed to discover how to take care of themselves? What if parents had faith enough in themselves and their children to simply protect children while they unfold as they were genetically programmed to do? What if.jagia-07146. is so poisonous. enforcing rules with a vengeance. and slightly block the damage done. provided by the structure of the system itself. comparing. phony. Even when they do stay.co. expressed through stringently enforced cautionary rules. instead of forcing them. We know that enforcing rules with a vengeance damages people and makes for a miserable life. There are plenty of fine teachers whose hearts are in the right place and who love children. some of us have learned from each other a few things that we know don't work. rather than assuming they are evil little pleasure-seekers who need to be taught how to behave? If love and encouragement with freedom works.nr . it creates miserable. make them do whatever homework is assigned. Stringent moral instruction at an early age doesn't create a happy.Luckily. and encourage them to be successful in a system that is killing their spirits. We know that moralizing constantly with children at an early age makes chronic liars out of them in their adulthood. In addition to that we send them to schools. Out of love for them. coaching. mixed with anger. pushing. Unhappy parents and teachers. with punishment and shame. We find ourselves. through sharing honestly. Intense early religious and ethical instruction makes chronic liars out of people in their adulthood. and to memorize rules "for their own good. and most of them are completely unaware of the damage they do with their shoulds and their conditional love and their misplaced moralism. Because the grading. whole adult. they wake up into an assumption that something interesting. Children don't know how to generalize quite like adults. Because of that feeling. and carry it with them for a long time. good and evil. What if parents were in a therapeutic community in which their tendency to take out their misery on their children in the name of love was compassionately interrupted? What if the world became such a therapeutic community? Changes in the way we all live together can happen through a radical change in how we raise our young. to focus on avoiding punishment for not understanding and by acting as if they are trying hard to understand.become the norm. along with being afraid all the time. could wake up in the mornings with an expectation that is vague but always there. we are finished. something challenging." The problem with too much force in training in abstraction in any culture whatsoever is that human children can't do the abstracting required prior to ten or eleven years of age. cherishing every sensation and connection with life and with other human beings. Wouldn't it be great if the next generation of people. one of which is: "If I put on a show for the sake of the teachers and my parents to keep them off my back. Children do not learn the ability to generalize and abstract until about ten or eleven years of age.jagia-07146. They learn quickly. and we could reorganize the whole human community and create the possibility of a lifetime of play and service for every human being on the planet. however. something fun is likely to happen today. the existence of God. They learn this quickly. Without radically changing how we raise and educate our children. and if forced to act like they have. protected by pretending to be good. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. regardless of the culture they grew up in. that of living freely and fully in the moment. maybe I can have another life in secret. something good. raised by us. but they learn to be afraid of what is required of them. and to feel stupid and inept. The Fundamental Assumptions That Come with Feeling Whole People who are happy in life. Children are forced to act as if they understand abstract cognitive principles (like right and wrong. After the child has attained the age of eleven or twelve and develops the ability to do abstract thinking. the concept of fairness. Cultural Blindness: Trying to Teach Too Much Too Soon One of the primary causes of the disease of moralism is the forced training of children with abstract concepts they are developmentally too immature to comprehend. any further learning is blocked. learn how to feel connected with the continuum of life that they roll out of bed and encounter every day. they use it to make only a few permanent defensive generalizations. homo saps will increasingly be unable to enjoy the greatest benefit of life. that this day is to be looked forward to? Feeling whole is a fundamental necessity for being a creator.co. and so on) before they are capable of abstract cognitive thinking. If that change in how we raise our young doesn't happen. they continue to play like they understand when they don't. for the rest of their lives. Once a child learns this phony pretense of understanding to avoid punishment. They learn how to cower and falsify "sincere" effort.nr . they develop their skills in taking care of themselves in the context of an assumption of each day bringing a new and interesting adventure. honey. They will teach you again to be a visionary. A parent who is in a hurry to get the kid off to school so she can get off to work to get to the next place she has to go to. something they hadn't noticed for a long. we have to interrupt that interruption.nr ." in a grateful tone of voice. Children who are "spoiled" in the old paradigm way of thinking are actually the ones who have been raised the best. They have been taught to expect that the world is a place of nurturance and love. "That toothpaste smells good.Children learn first. on most days. We're going to be late. because we are usually in a hurry. as a natural consequence of their development.co. to locate themselves in the real world of sensate reality in the moment. take full responsibility for their lives. follow their lead instead of overriding their discovery because your agenda is more important. and as they gradually. to get through the day and get the day over with. we train them out of it. a child might notice and comment. How Would We Treat Children If We Weren't Working so Hard to Teach Them Something? Let them lead every now and then. Your agenda isn't more important." This little difference in parenting can make all the difference in the world. Play with them. for most of the children in our culture." I think this is more than likely related to them not having had their natural born optimism stomped out of them at an early age by parents and teachers hysterical about time and money. Marilyn Ferguson says in her great book. Then. For example. It sure does. Somehow. "…consciously or unconsciously. We could just start Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Our job is to play along with them by helping them develop their ability to envision the future and live into their visions. and say. Just do whatever they do or ask you to do. long time. resenting children for "dawdling" while being afraid of what the boss will think if they're late again. "Yep. Your culture has given you a bad agenda. they have learned to be good parents and teachers to themselves." They resentfully force themselves to push the kids to get ready in time. Children do a lot of fantasy play to develop their imaginations. The systematic teaching of hysteria about time is a part of the curriculum for the day. would say.jagia-07146. over about twelve to sixteen years. You've been torn loose from the continuum of being and captured by intellect. "Hurry up. that in her extensive study of visionary people she found that. Most of us are psychotic with regard to time and money. Radical Common Sense (which hasn't been published yet because of complications with international corporations who own almost all the publishing companies)." when she's brushing her teeth. You'll learn how to play with them the way they like to play at whatever age they are. thereby allowing you to envision how to raise them. A parent who is attentive to the child as a constant guru of living in the moment would themselves notice the smell of toothpaste. The parents of millions of children wake up into a frenetic assumption: "I have to make everybody get there on time. Every time a child interrupts your mental agenda to point out something they have noticed in the moment. to notice that you are being noticed and to give your full attention with no particular agenda." My understanding of this is that you discover yourself as God and the other as God at the same time. As Kierkegaard said. We decided that. We eventually escaped the pretense of our reputations to ourselves. Repeated. and we act on that belief by telling each other what problems we have and working them out. Those ways of thinking are the leftovers from having been brainwashed into playing like we understand something we don't. Perspectives on reality can be changed easily. we started really talking to each other about our own pretenses. for ourselves. Play with your kids for hours instead of making more money. somehow. we didn't want our lives used up by such a story. This is more valuable than money. My friends and I all "did our time" in the prison of the mind during quite an extended adolescence. that is. We told the truth about our phony performances to each other.learning with them. That got boring and felt futile and we thought. and our performing whatever lies were necessary to maintain that image. When the willingness and inspiration that come from a change in perspective show up. We don't expect life to be problem-free and we don't expect problems to disappear through hope or positive thinking or the magical recitation of "affirmations" or any other form of magical thinking. transformation can occur. Radical parenting means staying connected as an older being with your child as a younger being. Seeing Problems as Opportunities to Play I believe that people can work out their problems in life by sharing with other people.nr . You and your child can play with your developing minds together. were a waste of time and the source of more problems than got handled. recurrent transformation is the alternative to moralism. Life doesn't come without problems. what our lives get used up by. "there must be more interesting things to do in the world. Problems are life.co. playing to the audience to control their view of who we are so we can get what we want.jagia-07146. ongoing. Miserable problems can become fun through the transformation of perspective on the problem. Reality cannot be changed by thinking or daydreaming. Not all problems are miserable. I have a lot of friends who share that belief. A lot of problems are fun. To be present to a child's presence to you. bonded as one noticing being noticing the other." We ended up turning to the task of creating a new world together and it is Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. As a way out of the story. Those of us who have grown beyond that handle our problems by confronting them openly and sharing them rather than keeping secrets. and the nurturance you get from nurturing them is the best there is. is one of the great joys of parenting. rather than having them used up by the method of survival advocated by our trainers. We finally got clear that our imagining of who we were in the eyes of other people. and that took away the need to keep it up. and playing that pretend games are the same as reality. Children are rich with the fullness of being. "A person who relates to another person and relates also to that relationship relates thereby to God. We now get to invent. To bring about a solution to the problems of human suffering and planetary extinction and make a world that works for everybody.co. using ourselves up to end it. namely. we need to work on a lot of minor sub-problems. So let's get to work. The good life is shared problems. Working on the solutions to this problem is much more challenging and fun than a life of just keeping up with the current style. Do this more by example than instruction. rather than just the rich folks. Most of us are depressed or anxious or angry or distracted or sick or just not happy. This almost gives us enough problems. Many of us have this built-in mechanism to guard against being Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. the end of the arms race. in the same way. help is on the way. We would like to spend our lives working on ending human suffering. We can tell by looking around at the world we live in. the end of enslaving educational paradigms. If parents and teachers stop teaching whining and complaining and start teaching the fun of playing with problems.nr . and why not invent one big enough to be worth working on? What we have invented to use up our lives is building a heaven on earth by honestly sharing who we are. and. So we have to do some work on ourselves to change how we treat our children. We were raised in a way that didn't work. Solving big problems together is the best game on earth. We were surprised to discover that we are more afraid of joy than we are of any of the other emotions. Saving the world and improving the lives of all human beings on the planet through sharing is the problem we have invented and taken on for our own sakes. We can tell by all the damaged children who are our friends. We are taking on the central problem—and we ask you to help—of raising a generation of human beings the world over who are prepared to love and share with other human beings. the end of starvation. viewing them through the eyes of delight. work consciously to have them love life. and learning. for the most part. We can tell by looking at our current. for example). why not be in charge of inventing some of them. All in all. The joy and celebration of freedom together that emerged when we got free from most of the mind's taboos was so unfamiliar it was too much to bear. our immediate forebears have not done that great a job of loving their children. We decided that because life always involves problems. A lifetime of play and service for every person on the planet is the possibility we invented to live for.more fun that the old life was. the end of authoritarian governance of countries and corporations. the end of economic injustice. This is almost enough to substitute for whining about how you don't love me as much as you love somebody else or whether to get the Ford or the Chevy. and we are raising our children. and other people. mostly sick institutions (take the legal system.jagia-07146. Cross Cultural Transformation: Learning to Tolerate Joy Some of us have worked through anger and shame and sexual inhibitions in the course of growing beyond just growing up and were surprised at what came next. and the end of genocide. the end of war. What you can do to help the world become a much better place is to take delight in your children. and operate according to. and get that we have always known this in our bones. We close down the love with anxiety.nr . and how well we let love for them be the heart of how we organize ourselves in the world to take care of them. Love becomes blocked by mourned lost love and romanticized nostalgia to satisfy the mind's need to preserve the illusion of control. "and it was terrible. universities. "I have lost it before. We didn't stay in control. Our minds resist the risk of surrender to celebration of the joy of being alive with other human beings because we have learned that human beings are dangerous. I believe that the world of human beings can eventually become conscious of. to prevent the intensity. more wonderful than we can allow ourselves to experience." Our mothers and fathers and teachers and other big people loved us conditionally and we never quite got the conditions met. Human beings want to celebrate being alive with other human beings who are celebrating being alive. The future of humankind depends upon how well we learn aliveness and love of life over again from our children. In the course of growing up." our minds say. This time we will be careful—so careful we block the feeling with the memory of the loss of the feeling. So our minds. We experience love and immediately turn it into nostalgia for lost love because we cannot bear letting love come and go.overwhelmed by love—being unmanned and unwomanned and undone from our identity as survivors. this fundamental love of human beings for each other and their desire to celebrate being itself. corporations—I have never found a human being who didn't want to contribute to the well-being of other people. We think that who we are is our mind. be with each other. so don't do that again. It is our mind's job to protect us. whose duty it is to make sure we are not overwhelmed by any experience. in love. Most of us overlearn this paranoid fear of other human beings because of the poisonous moralism and parental abuse of power in the culture in which Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. We already knew this when we were little. mental hospitals. is a being. our life changes from making-do-the-the-bestwe-can (survival) to making out quite happily in the world. Regardless of how distorted their mind or how twisted their thinking. We learn this in the course of growing up. if the mind's resistance to this doesn't destroy us first. contribute to each other. This love of being alive comes with the territory of being human. They were dead wrong. Once we get this again. This is fundamental to our nature as human beings.co. Our parents and teachers taught us that who we are is our minds. Here is how the mechanism works: we fall in love and feel love for another person and for a little while it is just wonderful.jagia-07146. all human beings fundamentally want to help each other. This book is to help us learn to teach each other to be beings in love. We lost their love and thought it was our fault for not being careful enough. Who we actually are. save us from that experience of love by associating the current experience of love with earlier records of having lost this same kind of love. We All Have A Common Desire Wherever I have been with people—jails. we got trained out of it by people who thought that developing our minds and identifying with them was more important. but we didn't know we knew it. and two free persons grow and grow and grow. Everyone in the home schooling movement. The Course in Forgiveness (3 days) and The Course in Creating (3 days). Life Spring. I hope you are inspired by now. of independent people not enslaved by their own minds is born. This book is a basis for honest conversation between generations about taking responsibility for the next new generation. The first generation. continue on and read this book. first-time grandparents. Insight Training. single parents. but you may be offended instead. Members of a culture that is asleep are characterized by unconscious attachment to a cultural subgroup of values based on how they were raised. ever. I am here to speak with the 40 million Americans who embrace "New Paradigm Values" as reported in a survey conducted by Paul Ray reported in Noetic Sciences Review in 1996. so they can transcend the jail of their own mind when they grow up. This is the dawning of the age of enlightenment. The being of the parent loves the being of the child. or in rebellion against how they were raised. I also believe that one day the force of being will be more in control of how humans live than the forces of the mind's resistance. playfully. check to see what moral you are attached to and see if you can forgive me. I am talking to all of us. and all the graduates of the Radical Honesty Two Day Workshops. or are offended but still interested. attentively.jagia-07146. young couples.000 people who will have bought Radical Honesty by the time this book is released.nr . I'm talking to all the graduates of trainings involving existentialist and Buddhist approaches such the Forum. and in no hurry. I also appeal to people who are not parents and don't plan to be. We hope it will help you a lot in raising your kids and loving your neighbors and having fun doing it.5. The most important gift we can give to our children and to humanity is to teach them to grow beyond limiting beliefs continuously. first-time parents. The key to this is how well we love each other and how well we love our children. Pema Chödrön and literally hundreds of other compassionate people and good teachers. over 100. The gift is to love our children consciously with a clear intention to help them stay in touch with the glory of being alive in their bodies as they grow. Neale Donald Walsch. and those conducted by Tony Robbins. If you are offended by anything I've said so far. but who are interested in new paradigm values and in making a contribution to the Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Beings are in charge of their own minds. Let's do it. consciously. The Course in Honesty (8 Day). I am talking to everyone who has ever been in a 12-step program in AA or in Al-Anon or many co-dependency groups.co. casually saving the world. Conscious Community and Conscious Child Rearing we are raised. Let's enjoy it. Loving our children unconsciously is not enough. Nurturing their spirits is important for their freedom. rather than minds in charge of their own beings. experienced parents and grandparents. I believe that the will of human beings to contribute to each other is stronger than the resistive forces of their minds. newlyweds. friends of single parents. Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks. If you are not offended so far. It has to do with giving up the provincialism of culture itself. This model was first taught to people in the West around the turn of the century by Gurdjieff. This is a great time to be alive because compassionate people are coming into their own power. to the eventual recentering in being for using the mind and the traditions of the culture. Let's assume we are liars in the acculturated way we learned in whatever culture we were raised. What can we do if our starting place is now. are growing beyond the cultural limitations of whatever culture they were born into. This conversation is with and for everyone who has read the following books and others like them: •Summerhill by A. It compares our lives with the lives of primitive tribes with regard to happiness of the adults. Now we want to review what happens when we assume that a person in a culture wants to outgrow the limitations of that culture. The people in this world are waking up from a long sleep. Neill. Seven Laws of Spiritual Parenting.nr . because of his brilliant analysis and evidence of the relationship between wholeness and health and healing and his clear understanding of the uselessness of moralism without love. We are all helping. If we were stringently instructed to learn abstractions at Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. read Dean Ornish's book as soon as you can. and •Love and Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy by Dean Ornish. and when we do. 6.D. we will change the world. •the interest-led learning books by John Holt •the books of John Taylor Gatto •The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewelyn •The War Against Children by Breggin and Breggin •Spiritual Parenting: A Guide to Understanding and Nurturing Your Child (Harmony. 1997) by Hugh and Gayle Prather •Deepak Chopra's new book about parenting.co. We will come to recognize each other as time goes on.jagia-07146. But. M. and examines the childrearing practices that make us who we are in each culture. Growing Ourselves. I am speaking to everyone who has read The Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff. •Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn's book and workshop Mindful Parenting: Nourishing our Children. which has been in publication for almost twenty years now and is a masterpiece. I have mentioned just a few leads to contribute to the network that is hooking up all over the world. and many more you and I don't know about.people of the world. S. I plan to review all of these books and a few more in my upcoming book Radical Parenting. The Road From The Mind Jail Back To Being—The Sufi Levels Of Consciousness We have just started the conversation about the developmental path from centeredness in being to the growth of the mind in a culture. All these people. and we are trapped in a mind? I'm using the Sufi system called the levels of human consciousness as a model for our mutual instruction. some of it is even enjoyable. called "the level of belief." This means we think that to escape our mind we must figure something out. At least we know we are not alone. some honest conversations. our kids. The Level of Social Contracts In this level.jagia-07146. We are at a level of consciousness that the Sufis called the "level of belief. So let's say that now we have advanced from the level of belief to the level of social contracts but we are still severely constrained. some degree of telling the truth." The Sufis say that ninety-eight percent of us spend ninety-eight percent of our time at this level.co. isolated fundamentalists live. That's all. That isn't true at the level of belief. We don't want much. It is a slightly higher hell than the level of belief because it at least recognizes that other people out there exist independently from our own mind's pictures of them. where other people are just categories like "converts" or "heathens. The problem is that we are trying to think our way out of thinking. Although the obligations to other people we have contracted for constantly "rescue" us from the hell of Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. but we are stuck with obligations we just have to respond to. Lots of other people in the world share this level of consciousness with us most of the time. Let's say we live in hell for a long time. Plus." The lowest level. and so on. It's hell. dreaming of a day when we won't have to be on duty all the time anymore. We need to get back into the world of experience and stop obsessively thinking. get married. we realize life isn't quite living up to its billing. many times each day we drop back into the level of belief. some therapy. It is where we live when we are concerned about acceptance and living up to other people's expectations. our bills. This is the lowest level of human consciousness. The next level up is where many first generation immigrants live. When we reflect on our life. It is not all intensely painful. but we are basically on duty all the time. We would just like to work when we feel like it and not work when we don't. Our job.nr . We grow older. get a job. really. The "level of social contracts" is one notch above hell. our family. We would like to get to where we feel happy and in charge of our lives rather than feeling like we're running around in circles putting out fires all the time. How do we do that? The Level of Belief We must start by recognizing where we are in the first place. We believe we can't do that but we wish we could. It's being strongly attached to the cultural quagmire we got dumped into that I discussed in the beginning chapters you have just read.too early an age. This level has an alternative name. We think we need to figure out what to believe and then act accordingly. We want to "inhibit the modifications of the mind" and become present to experience." is where insulated. Our entire focus is on figuring out what we should believe and acting accordingly. and our other obligations dictate what we do and there just isn't any time left. we live in our minds so much we hardly have any experience of anything and we can barely contact reality enough to walk through a doorway without bumping into the doorjamb. It's the inescapable do-loop prison of the interminable warning buttons of the reactive mind and the useless rationalizations of the rationalizing mind. but only one notch. relax. It's called hell. we have done some work on ourselves. the "level of belief. We just never can. where we are trying to figure out what to believe and then do what that belief dictates. some schooling. Since I have been hanging out at that level for some years now.belief. I will not change how I say what I say if. we still make frequent visits back to the two lower levels of consciousness known as belief and social contracts. ghost writer. When we attain the level of consciousness known as the Muhammad Ali level. paying taxes. let me give you an example of the level by excerpting from a letter I wrote a few months ago to my literary agents in response to their suggestion that I needed a co-author. we get to know that there must be more to life than showing up to work on time and having a split level house with a two-car garage and two-point-eight children and keeping the mortgage paid and doing our duty to others who are doing their duty to us. it changes in any way. called this level of consciousness the "Saint Ego level. Our marriage. We also know that there is more to life than being an obedient. and honoring other commitments to other people deliver us from the frying pan of self-torture into the fire of the torture of obligation. I'll write whatever way I want.jagia-07146. "I am the greatest!" he said. paying bills. in my view. or editor before I could have a best-seller because my language is too offensive: "So here is the way it is." because Muhammad Ali in his prime was such a great example of proclaimed superiority. kids. He was not obedient to the beliefs and the social contracts they claimed he should be obedient to because he was superior to that. I will not surrender any authority over what goes out under Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. The Saint Ego Level Eventually. Some of us modern day Sufis call this the "Muhammad Ali level. a perspective of superiority from which to view beliefs and social contracts. or form the point of what I have to say. well-behaved citizen for whom living within the guidelines of convention is the highest goal of life. The Sufis." We begin to understand that we are better than most of the other fools in the world. We still have beliefs and we still have to deal with social contracts. We want to spend more and more time at this higher level because we have a larger perspective that subsumes more information. When we do realize that there is more to life than fulfilling obligations. we realize at the same time that knowing that makes us superior to others who haven't learned that yet. At least we have learned that. but we tend to not be as attached to beliefs and we handle social contracts so we can spend more time at a higher and less worrisome place. I will not change what I have to say to suit the market or what so-called experts about the publishing field claim to know about the market. now we recognize the independent existence of other people that places constant demands on us. Most of us are in our forties before we learn that. Whereas at the level of belief we aren't even related to other people except as triggers for other beliefs on our part. shape. "I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!" "I am beautiful!" He refused to go to Vietnam and kill his dark-skinned brothers and sisters because the human bunch who claimed he belonged to them told him it was his duty. through hard living and experience. including you two. according to Gurdjieff.co. I know what I am talking about and what I have to say.nr . the rescue is hardly worth the work. who first introduced these levels of consciousness to the West. There has to be more to life than maintaining our obligations. the lawyer for the client began his cross examination of Mr.co.. That includes all minds. with me having the final authority over what gets published. The way we did it is through the way of being I have just described. with an editor whom I respect. incessantly.my name. which is to say. Your own mind is not your friend. "Once. who was in the witness stand. This is not romantic love or nostalgic love but simply the love of one being for another.'" "I admire that arrogance. That is what I am about. At the heart of what I have to say is the general attitude of disrespect for minds. The fundamental integration of Eastern and Western philosophy that I have synthesized. and perhaps fruitlessly." As you can see. which I both represent and live by.' I serve their beings instead. I do not cater to expert opinion even if it is my own. hurts people's feelings. using his or her mind. living at this level is more fun than the previous levels. the observer-in-the-moment-alive-right-now-only being to be who I am and who you are. is not polite. offends people." "I am in love with hundreds of people and they are in love with me. the one who notices first and learns second. out of love. 'That's a bit conservative. I have been doing psychotherapy with miserable intellectuals for more than half my life. endlessly. healthy person raises hell all the time. transcends local knowledge. I am proud to be Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Wright. and also stays with people while they work through the feelings—committed to their being and at war with their minds. It considers itself to be who you are. 'Mr." "A fully alive. not being used by it. He or she rules his or her own life and creates a life from being." "I don't want a co-author or even a heavy-handed coach about what the mind of the expert thinks the minds of the people think. I don't consider your mind or mine to be who we are. it is Big Brother inside of you. I think Wright showed an honorable disrespectfulness of all human assessments and comparisons and evaluations other than his own. For the love of being I am a destroyer of minds. I consider the being who grew the mind. This is what I am expert in. by saying. I am talking about the overthrow of the government of the mind. but it is my own sweet damned choice. and I am not going to change that for any mere agent or publishing company. A lot of the people I love and who love me were offended by me in the first place because I threatened the illusion of control provided by their minds. I don't intend to cater to the sickness I have learned to heal in myself and others.' Frank Lloyd Wright responded. one paragraph at a time.jagia-07146. it's been said that you are the world's greatest living architect. I will work." "The very essence of what I have to say is radical. Wright. I do not cater to the minds of what your mind calls 'the market..nr . on a give and take basis. when Frank Lloyd Wright was being sued by a client. I continued my rant at my poor agents. He or she doesn't submit to the minds of others or even to his or her own mind. trailing along in a carefully pressed uniform. a being may have a dawning revelation that leads to the next level of consciousness. Staying In the Present. of a person at the third level of consciousness. and being superioristic egotists themselves they understood me and didn't quit. We start losing faith in our own ego. it will be mine. but figured out a way to continue to support me without controlling me too much.arrogant in that same way. We then discover a new use for the mind—namely. and even if it is. You don't do that by catering to minds' attachments. after successfully invading Sicily. We are beyond control by political force. but if I am going to place my faith in anyone's mind at all. I wish 'mere anarchy' to be 'loosed upon the world' and I will do everything I can to make it so. "I intend to teach by modeling. it is our beliefs. "I am a leader in the revolution of consciousness." The Level of Philosopher/Charlatan After a while at the Muhammad Ali level of consciousness. the being within which the mind resides. and Creating a Future with a Little Help from Your Friends. so what? We are equal as a being to other beings. and a lower-ranking reporter. I don't have much faith in minds at all. He uses some profanity." That tirade is a fine example.co. We begin to see through our own mind. or superior to other people. We come to understand that the beliefs we have generated from our own life experience are just more beliefs. and then they remember it. When we brag about being better than. both in how I live and how I write. George C. "I would like to title my next book A Mind is a Terrible Thing! Waste It!" but after reflection and good coaching from some people who love me I am willing to change it to Radical Honesty II: How to Live the Good Life by Completing the Past. Luckily my agents are used to it. You don't do that by catering to lame-brained experts. it is not our being we are referring to. we don't go 'out of control. comments on the general's language. delivers this line: "If I want it to stick. Patton is giving a press conference as he's walking through a field. if I do say so myself. The movie Patton has a scene where. the life of an individual who is not controllable by moralism. the Muhammed Ali or Saint Ego level. Scott.jagia-07146. whether it be government or office politics. as Patton. I have had to grow a little more to get published now. Another example of someone who spent time in the Saint Ego level is General George Patton. we didn't find a publisher who wanted to give me a whole lot of money for being the superioristic jerk that I was there.nr . This includes our belief in our own superiority. We recognize that bragging about being superior by virtue of the inferiority of others is not very superior. and I think in an important way it is prerequisite to being the creative genius that I am. So what that we Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Unfortunately. What do we need moralism for if we have the integrity of being? When we break loose from the stupid illusion of control we have trapped ourselves into with the help of the entire culture and educational system and the crippled humans we were raised by. as a creative instrument in service to our true identity.' but we do go beyond control. smarter than. I give it to 'em loud and dirty. and you try to sell what you can to make the most of it even though your general opinion of yourself as superior doesn't do much for you anymore." Despair comes from root words in both Latin and Greek that mean "down from hope. including our own hard-earned beliefs. given your knowledge that a superior person and a regular person aren't recognizably different." We are worth exactly nothing.jagia-07146. Nothing.co. Werner Erhard said. We are not of significant negative value (a popular ego trip). the first thirty or forty times we reach this level) we get born into the next. (Ha!) Yep. At this level. of course we do. known as the "level of Despair. you acknowledge that you know more than most. unfortunately. We have no hope. "Until you know that your life is utterly meaningless you don't know anything at all. At this point. We have nothing left to believe in. We have nothing to hope for. Nada. This is a very high level of human consciousness. We realize that life its own self is meaningless. a whole bunch of others will pay to read these beliefs at about fifteen bucks a book. you get that the preacher Koeloth in the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament is right when he says. If not. There are no guarantees about nothing. partly out of desperation. though we still remain generally entangled at the levels of belief and social contracts. Zero." We no longer hope. It's called the "level of Philosopher/Charlatan. and all the previous levels of consciousness. Then it dawns on us that becoming more conscious is not necessarily correlated with becoming happier. if we don't run away to lower levels of consciousness as quick as we can (which. the next rung on the ladder. I know. just more beliefs. even our beliefs based on our own experience and our beliefs about who we are. known as the "level of Suicidal Panic.are superior to fundamentalists? What does that mean? We know that their attachment to their beliefs doesn't work. You may not spend a lot of time at this level. we start selling our beliefs to others). Hopefully. but we are still attached to a few we call our own. we're really getting somewhere. The Level of Despair Here we are. We have come to understand that all beliefs. very high level of consciousness. but I'm selling them to you nevertheless. We get that we are compulsive meaning-making machines who endlessly make meaning out of everything." At this level. at this level.nr . Most of us have had a taste of all these levels. You know what I am talking about here. Now what? Well." The beliefs I have generated from my hard-earned experience are. Zilch. We are hopeless. are worthless. We are on the cusp of a very high level of consciousness. Now." The Level of Suicidal Panic Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. you wouldn't be reading these so-called selfhelp books. we begin to enroll other people in our hard-earned beliefs (that is. becoming superior to being superior. and there is no profit in it. or of significant positive value (all the hype about self-esteem and positive thinking. and that's not bad grammar and it's not just a pun. "All is vanity. and so on). one of which is about our so-called superiority. but you experienced it when you were trying to sell other people on the virtues of your beliefs. and it is all a waste. We are of no value. this is my main level these days. you know that doesn't mean much. and a striving after the wind. " the present experience of being. let's focus a bit on what the panic at this level is about. We don't feel bad that all we have is this. we arrive at the next level. The being we are notices the being in them—the being they are. then. Here and Now but Still Wishing for Something to Believe In When we first enter the here and now. it has a negative quality."—and that is just fine with us. We are present to what is going on in the moment but we wish there was more to expect than just more moments. not even despair. This is what Kierkegaard was talking about when he said. That. we don't feel bad about it." At this level we are present to being present. but I am only going to Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146. If you do not understand. We don't feel good about it. Not a belief in love." Here." and then we don't kill ourselves and we are no longer in a panic. We begin to feel good about it. The level called "Here and Now" has three aspects.nr . But before we name and describe that level. The panic is from not having a single thing to believe in at all. things are as they are. We are grounded in noticing. We are at a very high level of consciousness. which includes everything (all of the past and all we can imagine of the future. Our presence to their being salutes their being's presence to us. which is called the "level of Here and Now. we are present to being present to them. and nothing more. "When a person relates to another. they relate thereby to God. This level is the focus. Neutral Feeling Here and Now After a while. including our own death). certainly. we are completely neutral. which is written on the wall of my office: "If you understand. is the next level.At this level. Positive Feeling Here and Now Then after a while. and relates also to that relationship. We have "lost our minds and come to our senses. we eventually run out of panic. It's not great. whatever it is." If someone else is there. only the present experience of being alive in the moment. We are desperate for something to believe in. There are actually six levels above this one. known as "Suicidal Panic. All that is left is just what is in front of us and within us to experience right now. of Buddhism and of most spiritual practice and psychotherapy and group process work when the leaders actually know what they are doing. at this level. but the fact that our life is utterly meaningless is also utterly meaningless. but love its own self. We can't even get off on being an existentialist philosopher any more! We can't get meaning out of preaching meaninglessness any more! We are left with nothing. right now. and that is just fine. we either kill ourselves or we don't. If we don't kill ourselves. We get that not only is our life utterly meaningless. is where love becomes possible. We are present. We face the hard Buddhist saying. things are as they are.co. All we have is what the Buddhists call "suchness. We yearn for the former phony security of our belief in meaning beyond the moment." The Level of Here and Now When the panic is gone. we still have no hope and nothing to believe in— nothing but "suchness. we become completely neutral about not having anything to believe in. We still wish we had something to believe in and are sorry we don't. There is nothing to believe in. We now have a mind that is not bound to the defense of our ego. to get back to identifying with our experience in the here and now as who we are. The poet and artist E. If you want to learn about the other levels of consciousness. We don't need that mind for our identity anymore! Our identity is the being we are. it was a lot of fun. pretend that "Anyone" is a boy and "no Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. leads to thinking about that experience. and who was above all else a creator. grounded in your experience of the here and now. Yoga. Christian salvation. he does it to be able to sit and look at a wall. All of us. When a Zen Buddhist sits and looks at a wall fourteen hours a day. seven days in a row.describe one more. The Level of Pure Reason The next level after the "level of Here and Now" is called the "level of Pure Reason. the next one.nr . We become truly a free thinker. Sitting in that place. As you read it." Isn't that something!? We've gone to all this trouble to escape from the jail of alienation our minds create.co. We have this wonderful instrument we worked so hard to grow. We did this when we were little but we grew out of it. To sit and look at the story of your life like you would sit and look at a wall means you have recontacted your source in the same way as the Buddhist in front of the wall. E." The experience of living for a while. We get that the source of our historical being and the source of our present being is like a generator that has been constant since it started. My version has been modified based on real-life experiences of my friends and me for the past twenty-five years. we come to understand things we never understood before. At "Pure Reason" we can think like we have never thought before. If we can remember. only with better toys and more appreciation of what we've got! This is our story. This is at the heart of Buddhism. Getting back to our source is the first step to transcendence. We see the possibility of a lifetime of play and service. do our Course in Honesty or find out from Oscar Ichazo or the Arica training or Gurdjieff or someone else who knows more about the traditional way of teaching this model than I do anyway. To be able to sit and look at a wall and just sit and look at a wall is enlightenment. Summary Well. this is what we have to go through once we have a mind. and other forms and practices of enlightenment. and the first thing that happens after we get grounded in our experience is we get our minds back! What a difference. wrote this poem about our mutual journey. though. Cummings. and now we can use it! It turns out to be a fantastic instrument for creating! Daydreams become amenable for action! Fantasies become visions! Escapist hopefulness and desperate attempts at reassurance about our self-worth and the entanglement of self-image promotion and maintenance become just possible scenarios to play with.jagia-07146. we withdraw attention from the dilemmas of the mind. Vedantic philosophy. When we pay attention to the being we are. in the here and now! Our identity precedes our mind! We take ownership of our mind and take it out for a test drive! Hoohah! This is the part where you start to consider the life of the creator. Now we get to do it again. As Kris Kristofferson says. who knew that the source of love is in the here and now. "Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose. Pretend they met and loved each other and lived for a while and died.co.jagia-07146. Pretend they are both each one of us.nr .one" is a girl. anyone lived in a pretty how town (with up so floating many bells down) spring autumn summer winter he sang his didn't he danced his did women and men (both little and small) cared for anyone not at all they sowed their isn't they reaped their same sun moon stars rain children guessed (but only a few and down they forgot as up they grew autumn winter spring summer) that noone loved him more by more when by now and tree by leaf she laughed his joy she cried his grief bird by snow and stir by still anyone's any was all to her someones married their everyones laughed their cryings and did their dance (sleep wake hope and then) they sang their nevers they slept their dream stars rain sun moon (and only the snow can begin to explain how children are apt to forget to remember with up so floating many bells down) one day anyone died I guess (and noone stooped to kiss his face) busy folk buried them side by side little by little and was by was all by all and deep by deep and more by more they dream their sleep noone and anyone earth by april wish by spirit and if by yes. Women and men (both dong and ding) summer autumn winter spring reaped their sowing and went their came sun moon stars rain Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. your soul will gradually filter out into limitless heaven beyond. Think of hell as in and heaven as out. etc. one of the best-loved novelists of our time. however. they are right here on Earth. an astonishing number of people seem to be confused about which is which.nr . To put it simply Heaven is living in your hopes and Hell is living in your fears. If you just maintain a steady pressure. you have reached the golden threshold of maturity. He is funny. although they are exact opposites. One problem with the notion of Heaven and Hell. In the traditional image. There is also death after life. and able to laugh at past and present tragedy and the pretentiousness of belief systems for all the world. Certainly there is. "Graduating seniors.7. all over the United States on this very evening. I don't know whether to laugh or get sick.co. It goes on forever. This attitude of play and irreverence for all past tradition is absolutely essential for people who begin to make a life of creating. Washington. Though in an age of downers and uppers down and up no longer make sense. For example. and it is up to each of you in which one you choose to reside. if I may use the vernacular. Still Life with Woodpecker. and life before death. To get out of hell you expend your soul until it is pushing on all the walls from the inside all the way around. As for Heaven and Hell. Ha ha. is that. time to face your hallowed responsibility. The sad Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. one suddenly and magically gets it altogether and." And if that isn't one Hell of a note.jagia-07146. Robbins is a tremendously creative author (Skinny Legs and All. and this was his advice: I am often asked whether there is life after death. When I hear the word "maturity" spoken with such solemn awe. He gave this talk to an alternative high school graduating class in Greys Harbor. Tom Robbins is a creator. describing Hell as if they were talking about Heaven. and death before life. where it's at. He models what a creator does and how he lives. In fact. Adults Are Nothing But Large Children Who Have Forgotten How To Play This chapter title is a quote from the following talk by Tom Robbins. There circulates a common myth that once one becomes an adult. Another Roadside Attraction. it's certainly one note of Hell. discovers. it is time now to go out into the world and take up the challenge of life. you already have.). one escapes from hell by digging a hole in the ceiling. where hell is down and heaven is up. several years ago. commencement speakers are standing before audiences not greatly unlike yourselves. He is a model creator who lightens us up before we launch into the hard work of life design and community building. Their speakers are saying things such as. it is still possible to think of in and out. No. To muzzle your throb. adults are nothing but tall children who have forgotten how to play. When people tell you to "grow up. you have no responsibility except to be yourself to the fullest limit of yourself. perhaps I should say. you keep changing— and a person who is changing is unpredictable. your heart to America. act their age. So society wants you to grow up.nr . surprises known: SETTLE DOWN— settle. impossible to pigeon-hole and difficult to control. the newspapers reported that a federal court had ruled that when a person's brain stops functioning. to remember who you are. ACT YOUR AGE—which means. to lower the volume on the singing in your blood. Or. the growing person is not an ideal consumer. Yet. we are constantly reminded of our…"responsibility. The growing person is an uncomfortable reminder of the greater human potential that each of us might realize if we had the guts." By "shut up" they mean "stop talking. the nature of which the Navy and the Dutch Reform Church do not encourage us to ponder. which means. Because deep down in the secret velvet of your heart." Responsibility means obey orders without question. "Responsibility to what?" To our fellow humans? Two weeks ago. To reach a safe. that person is legally dead. he or she may get too close to the universal mysteries." by "grow up" they mean "stop growing. Capers all cut. That means that 80% of the population of the Earth is legally dead. I am forced to ask. Must we be responsible to corpses? No.funny truth is. The growing person is not an easy target for those guys in the slick suits who want you to turn over your soul to Christ. As for responsibility. Growing up is a trap. like the sand in the bottom of an hour glass. sky finally larked. your butt to Seattle First National Bank and your armpits to new extra crispy Right Guard. And that being who is the true you cannot help but behave graciously to all other beings--because it is all other beings. from the moment they stopped growing. grows far enough and long enough. and to find out who you are. he or she is not an easy slave. like a coffin six months in the ground. and that has. if he or she continues to grow. don't Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. each of you knows who you really are. always been old. predictable plateau and root there." Because as long as you keep growing. far beyond your name and your address. in more realistic terms. even though his or her heart may continue to beat.co. Worse yet.jagia-07146." they mean approximately the same thing they mean when they tell you to "shut up. no sense of unity with the universe. no amazement. on the other side of the world millions of Russians and Chinese have gone to sleep wondering if Henry Kissinger is under their bed. fear of poverty. Fear of failure. and for God's sake. And with advent of an electronic cybernetic automated technology. Responsibility is a trap. Technocratic assumptions about the identity of humanity. A drop in the bucket. no wonder. no overwhelming love? At least your ego has the satisfaction of knowing you are a responsible citizen. free access to all the local emporiums and a home of your own to pile the merchandise in! And so what if there is no magic in your life. and it is through fear.rock the boat. Sha na na na)That's the scary one. secure income.co. we once were taught to fear something called Communism. no deep understanding. There is no realistic relationship between jobs and work—work being defined as simply one of the more serious aspects of play any more than there is a realistic relationship between jobs and eating. (Get a job. the very concept of jobs is only about 500 years old. the entire System into which you were born and which now. jobs are on the way out again. no giggling joy. no peace of mind. to coin a phrase. fear of death. and millions of Americans have gone to sleep each night wondering if Mao Tse Tung is under their bed. easy credit. just as the totalitarian communist Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. no burning passion. is a System designed to trap you—and manipulate you as a co-operating slave. fear of punishment. upon completion of high (high?) school you must perhaps face more directly. and if we are. For example. As a matter of fact. society and nature have warped our experience at its source and obscured the basic natural sense of things. Hell is living in your fears. then we are rewarded with the white man's legal equivalent of looting: a steady job. Jobs were just a flash in the pan. As if it weren't for Boeing their jaws wouldn't chew. but we must be responsible. Get a job. fear of social rejection. Conversely. It is said as if it were a holy and ancient and inviolable law of nature. When was the last time you heard of a rabbit starving to death? Ah. both subtle and overt. if it weren't for the Navy their bowels wouldn't move and if it weren't for Weyerhauser that great destroyer of plants—plants wouldn't grow. a passing fancy.nr .jagia-07146. It is curious how many people believe if it weren't for jobs they couldn't eat. Rabbits don't have jobs. Our Totalitarian government used the hoax of the threat of Communism to control and enslave us. no playfulness. a System designed to steep you in Hell. that the System traps you. get a job. But the fact is although cultural humanity has been on Earth for some 2 million years. live lovingly. Don't be outraged. Remember that life is much too serious to take seriously. thinking. Listen to the loony rhythms of your blood. ignore it. Look for beauty and poetry in everything in life. Their main function is to mystify the popular mind by creating illusions of omnipotence and omniscience with which to command docility from their subjects. Learn the ways and means of the Ancient yogi masters. Instead.nr . there are ways out of the trap. Believe in magic. for it is from the wavering edge of risk that the sweetest honey of freedom drips. The only advice I have for you tonight is not to actively resist or fight the System. it has been the duty of superior persons—artists. While at the same time creating illusions of health. like the lemon and the tomato learned. Learn. clowns. poets. Use your head. It's an extremely old and obviously effective trick. We might also include the powers behind the Vatican and the powers behind Islam. Pied Piper. too strictly organized. Live dangerously. unfortunately. walk away from it. happiness and fulfillment for their subjects. In times of doubt and chaos. because active protest and resistance merely entangle you in the System. times that are too carefully ordered. be your own authority. and medicine men. ways. happy or fulfilled. like the jungle became aware. So. times in which too few control too many. But in times such as ours. Let there be no moon that does not know you.governments used the hoax and the threat of capitalism to enslave their people. lead yourselves. Become aware. and philosophers (certainly not statesmen or military heroes)—to create order in the psychic vibrations of their fellow beings. that has earned the right to your respect. out of Hell. But never mind. Get in harmony with nature.jagia-07146. humanitarian Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. of your own perfume. And. from the President of the United States down to the cop on the beat. scientists. thoroughly programmed and carefully planned. Nourish your imagination. be outrageous! Never be stupid enough to respect authority unless that authority first proves itself respectable. there is no officially sanctioned authority today. even if it means going out of your mind. no spring that does not lick you with its tongues.co. although it does not require much thorough investigation to discover that few of the peoples of the world are healthy. it is the duty of all feeling. too expertly managed. the powers behind Communism and the powers behind Capitalism are virtually the same people. Refuse to play it safe. turn your backs on it. laugh at it. cloud walkers. as I earlier suggested. Remember to never forget how to play. the laws of the sun. You see. We have eaten.people to toss their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. this a foolish superstition. Let me wrap this up with a few short questions I am often asked. we are ready to talk about how we can help each other create a new kind of community of individuals. and have pictured a model of how one grows beyond the limitations of cultural prejudice that is a natural part of growing up in a culture. Radical Honesty about Anger. •Does your soul fly out of your body at the moment you die? No. Looking at you tonight. And so are you. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. and the cultural context in which most of us have grown our minds. This is the Justice. and letting go of appreciation by experiencing it and getting over it. This is about saying goodbye to the "home mind" you grew up in and joining a new community of friends who will help you. This letting go of resentment and appreciation for ideas and ideals from the past is the alternative to living in a soap opera created by emotional attachment to beliefs. all the time. This next section is critical to individual peace of mind. If you have your body burned.nr Part Two: Community and Compassion . it is your sacred duty to screw things up royally. To relieve the repression of the human spirit. On second thought.jagia-07146. It is about how we get attached to belief and then how we transcend belief. let go of the past. letting go of anger by experiencing it and getting over it. and it is not an easy thing to do. •Will we be eaten by bugs and worms? We ought to be. At the moment your body dies. All the souls echo forever throughout the universe. Introduction Now that we have articulated what a mind is and how it works. as you help them. I know you're going to do just fine. This section consists of four chapters: Community and Compassion. It is also critical to world peace. you are asking for trouble.co. and we ought to be eaten. starving the earth to glorify a memory. the soul stops flying out. I hope you have a wonderful trip. •Is Jesus coming back? Yes. Your soul is constantly flying out of your body in just the same way that energy is constantly flying out of the sun. These chapters are about openness to the being of other human beings. you do have some responsibility to your fellow beings. Instead you live a life of creating which is sourced by your compassion. In Praise of the Old Paradigm and Creating Your Life. and there is no stopping it. Cummings reports an argument he had in 1931 with a Russian dramatist. Dramatist: "He's very angry. that someone is and anyone isn't. Dramatist: "He says that's nonsense. we find ourselves creating together as a community. we then become a force that can reform the institutions of our society." this lemming race is headed for the cliff. Cummings.co. we will easily fall back into our old acculturated identity and thought patterns. 8. therefore I think. This funeral turns out to be your own. who has stories but is not attached to them. whose poem. you forgive old grudges and appreciate them more for how they lived. Tell him a madman named noone says. anyone lived in a pretty how town. Then. Community And Compassion In his book Eimi (Greek for "I am"). We learn from experience that service to others is enlightened self-interest. This is the conversation that was relayed through an interpreter. and all the believing universe cannot transform anyone who isn't into someone who is. and to appreciate each other more until you die. we find ourselves reaching out more to each other and creating a community.jagia-07146." Once we have ceased to identify ourselves with our stories and consider ourselves to be only the being who notices in the moment. In fact. We all get motivated at funerals to love and live life together in gratitude and with a will to help each other have a good life until we die. concluded chapter seven and Tom Robbins. the friends who console you and whom you console are ready to celebrate what life you have left together." A pause. whose talk to a high school Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. therefore I am" to "I am. He says you are afraid. E. and the more compassionate view you evolve is for yourself. we need a community of other people who have achieved the same psychological accomplishment. E. You have a more forgiving and compassionate view of friends once they are dead. and we begin to see that unless we support the development of a new paradigm that allows for a shift in primary values from "I think. Cummings: "Tell him I drink…to the individual. Out of this experience of community. As we engage in noticing and sharing what we notice. He was proposing a toast. As at a funeral." Pause. E. Compassion Both E. we live in community. We don't live in isolation. and you review your life with them from a new perspective." Cummings: "Tell him I love nonsense and I drink to nonsense.This coaching about letting go is kind of like going to a funeral. Without the support of other people who have rediscovered their true identities as beings who think rather than thinkers who be.nr . a true believer in the communism du jour. you look at your own future life with that same new perspective." Cummings: "Tell him I'm afraid to be afraid. allows us to begin to understand the groundlessness of mind and the groundedness in being. even brilliant insights about who is wrong and who is right are limiting. they revolted. I imagine. for most people. and everyone who is rich knows that "security" is not the answer already.co. his recommendations were to not sell out to the rat race and to throw a monkey wrench in the works whenever possible. tolerating it while their life recedes to the background. Cummings is one of the greatest poets of all time. When they get a taste of possibility. looking particularly greasy. but the generation after they got wooden floors. You can have more fun and therefore a better life with more money. E. We know that the people at the top. and smug) at a meeting in the White House. For several hundred years. along with the picture of his guru—so he can work on compassion. People are in the rat race to get money to improve the quality of their lives.graduating class made up most of chapter eight. That was the best. is not all that good. "Why do so many people join and stay in the rat race? Why does the rat race continue?" We know that being a wage slave. In our day. not when the peasants are maximally oppressed consistently. Artists tend to leave the rat race. from a compassionate perspective. The tastes and temptations we see on TV make us hungry for a higher quality of life all the time. Tom Robbins is a creative genius and a brilliant writer. Everyone who is not rich and doesn't stay ignorant is coming to know this. His transcendent perspective on human life. in The Anatomy of a Revolution. were born and raised in America. To a certain degree. He keeps this picture on his little puja table where he meditates. which reflects the level called "pure reason" in the Sufi levels of consciousness. This raises some interesting questions. money can actually help improve the quality of life. Crane Britton said. He actually works at being able to love and appreciate them for who they are. generation after generation of serfs served without complaint. The life of the artist is a life of grounding in experience and transcendence of the mind. They are both independent individuals.jagia-07146. they want more and they become dangerous to the establishment. Although he was not appreciated by some of his contemporaries. If we attempt. this does appear to be done with conscious Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. the establishment has become good at continuing to give us hope of improvement and a rate of improvement that is just enough to keep a revolution from occurring. that revolutions occur. some things become clear that are less blameful. by and large. Ram Dass said he has a particularly gross picture of Ed Meese and George Bush and Ronald Reagan laughing (and. to figure out why people stay in the rat race.nr . we've seen it happen to our friends and us. What we know that limits our ability to perceive. drunk. It is particularly the things that we are sure of that limit our ability to notice. E. Revolutions occur when things have gotten just noticeably better. most honest advice he could give. We all know this. However. do want more and more money and have often developed the capacity to not give a damn about people unless it affects the bottom line. but the generation right after they are allowed slight improvements. we see it in advertisements on television all the time. When he thought seriously about what to say to people finishing high school. are not all that happy or even secure. Well. We have all seen how people who stay stuck there. thereby Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. We do this and it is fun. Like prisoners of war who together have built our own prison camp. We all want the quality of our lives improved because we are constantly exposed to the possibility of improving our lives by watching television. however. while at the same time keeping the enemy in power and uncountable numbers of other people under their economic control. while the quality of our lives is constantly diminished by the amount of time we spend striving and trying to accomplish living in the fantasies modeled for us on television. from our upbringing. We are learning that what is really important to the actual quality of our lives is not more stuff. or what we "deserve" compared to what we have. We impose some picture of how it ought to be on everything we almost experience. It also makes us more and more aware of the fact that we ourselves are under control by an unfair world economy like the prisoners of war in the movie The Bridge Over the River Kwai. market research. In the movie. and when it becomes an addiction it takes away from being present to our experience of being here in the real world while we are here. the personal computer.co. a constant refrain: "How'm I doin'?" "Am I doin' good enough?" "How'm I doin'?" Our lives are diminished by our own minds imposing some kind of standard or concept or value or idea of how things "ought" to be. We have also incorporated into our own minds. and attempts to influence the media. is sometimes called a spiritual revolution. while ignoring the issue of economic slavery itself.intention through opinion sampling. This revolution now occurring. We have learned from our education and culture what we should expect and we obediently do so with a vengeance. has been greatly assisted by one of the toys we were given to keep the money machine going.nr . poll taking. spin doctoring. called the revolution of consciousness. in belief systems that are more advantageous to the limited few than to us and most of the rest of humanity. We beginning to catch on to our conspiracy with each other to take pride in being promoted from "field slave" to "house slave" on the old plantation. PR. The revolution against the rat race. when the maintenance and upkeep of the semblances of reality become more important to us than the enjoyment of the experience of reality itself. The Internet is our wooden floor and they are going to have one hell of a time keeping us docile and drugged and under control and thought-policed from now on. advertising. At the heart of this revolution is the growing wisdom that we are systematically participating in improving our lives materially. doomed to lives of malnourishment and inadequate shelter without education and health care. even though the benefits to us of the maintenance of such a system are really quite limited.jagia-07146. We actually take pride in our efforts to improve the quality of our lives in the rat race by increasing our comfort and our toys. we take pride in what we have built together to survive under the circumstances of imprisonment in the mind. some of the prisoners who built the bridge that allowed their captors to advance the war and stay in power became unwilling to blow up the bridge because of their pride in the bridge they had built. and that is what makes us able to be manipulated by the market economy. The quality of our lives is diminished through the schooling we have received and the ongoing adult education programs via television and the media we are constantly exposed to. it's more awareness. co. An integrated individual is led by noticing and can no longer be manipulated. something we could do right now. and knowing that your mind is something you own. These ideas are not in any way exclusive. all the greedy people. and 800 numbers. We can learn to laugh at the beliefs we have been taking too seriously. we can eventually arrange for elected representatives primarily to carry out the will of the people expressed in frequent referenda.jagia-07146. Following the vision of the brilliant former senator from Alaska. and play for the rest of your days. Models are dangerous. After you identify with your perceiving-witnessing-being-in-your-body as who you fundamentally are. rather than who you are. you can have even more fun using the mind that once diminished your life. and the practices that I teach to help people distinguish between noticing and thinking. and then to stop doing that. You can use it then to make models to create and play with. All the lonely people. including her own. thereby not being fooled by categories anymore. They are clearly not exclusively my own. all the hungry people. An integrated individual has integrity of mind and being. The key to the revolution is to become a conscious maker of models. Improving the Quality of Life The secret to improving the quality of life is to learn how you are diminishing the quality of your life with the models you are using and attempting to force reality to live up to.). Models of the mind cut us off from the nourishment of commonplace experience. actually possible. Now we are coming into the age when individuals can be sovereign. What I have to say. This occurs regardless of the culture people live in. They belong to all of us and we are lucky to be alive in a time in which the possibility of the overthrow of all sovereigns and the acknowledgment of the sovereignty of being is. and elected representatives were sovereign for limited terms. the poor people. Our minds themselves are merely model makers. regardless of culture and regardless of socioeconomic level. the rich people. which is the best increase in quality of life a person could dream up. all the desperate people. After that representative government came into being. Mike Gravel. As a species of beings. we can catch ourselves in the very act of moving from experience to category. but it is particularly prevalent in this information bombardment culture we are currently living in. Some of us now know what the rest of us desperately need to know: our minds are not to be trusted. and most of all the phony people are sufferers at their own hands. but it is tough on the establishment. All minds serve being or this being doesn't play. The individual being who is in charge of her mind is a sovereign being because no mind can control her.blocking the experience. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. we are model makers. The sovereignty of the individual is the last step in the chain of history in which. for the first time in history. People become lost in belief and never return. for thousands of years. are of vital interest and vital importance to the whole world. the Internet. This allows for a life of constant creation. and thereby transcend the constraint of any single model.nr . As we can understand the inside joke of meditators (Hey! I'm meditating! … wasn't I. or rather at their own minds. They sometimes suffocate their builder. at once unawares and wary. using television. rulers were sovereign for life. pointed out that Eichmann's defense was that he should not be held personally responsible for a crime against mankind because he was doing his duty in the social system of which he was a part. some sadistic exception to common humanity. There were three people in the room: Milgram and two subjects. This argument was rejected. Was Adolf Eichmann some unusual social deviant. which." The coin flip was rigged. a student actor from the drama department. both of whom were apparently drawn from the sample of subjects. However. and found no significant differences between males and females in the results of the experiment. (In later versions of the original study he included females. for the same research. one of you will be the teacher and one will be the learner. Was he normal? Milgram designed an experiment to see if he could somewhat simulate the conditions in which Eichmann operated. read a book by Hannah Arendt about the trial of Adolf Eichmann. and he was executed. regardless of the social system of which he was a part. Outside of work. he seemed to have a normal life with family and friends and associates. Eichmann's adjudicators concluded that he was individually responsible for the crimes he committed. Milgram had. "I am conducting a study of the effects of negative reinforcement on learning. seven dollars for participating in an experiment that he told them was "a study of the effects of negative reinforcement on learning. He drew a random stratified sample of males from the community around Yale." After the coin flip." What he actually did was shuffle papers in an office and make phone calls and give orders. Milgram. he used a room in a building on the campus of Yale University. only one of them was a true subject and the second was a stooge. In this study.jagia-07146. which fascinated Stanley Milgram.The Work of Stanley Milgram I first heard about a social psychologist named Stanley Milgram when he presented a review of his research at Yale University during a meeting of the American Psychological Association in Chicago in 1965. several years earlier. Hitler's infamous second in command who had been responsible for overseeing most of the executions of six million Jews and other people judged unacceptable by the Third Reich. I will flip a coin to see which is which. His lawyers said that a court might judge that the social system was criminal. and proceeded to strap the learner (the stooge) into the chair and apply electrodes to his wrists and head. Milgram was given an award by one branch of the Association while being censured by another branch on the same day. In later versions of the experiment (the experiment was run several times with several groups of subjects before being written up in journals and reported to the Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.) He paid each subject. Milgram said to them. or was he just a bureaucrat? Arendt had pointed out that only twice in his entire career had he actually witnessed any executions. but not the person doing his duty within that social system. Milgram wore a white lab coat and introduced himself as Dr. Hannah Arendt. he said. in advance. Here is how he got praised and in trouble. so that the true subject from the sample was always the "teacher. he found "repugnant. Milgram led both subjects into a room containing a very large and impressive electric chair. who had covered the war crimes trial for several American newspapers. Hannah Arendt then raised another question.nr ." When Milgram met his subjects.co. the experiment began. and I would like you to increase the voltage of this shock in fifteen-volt increments. He will be given several repetitions of the word list to learn it. So Milgram modified his experiment by adding one more stooge. The stooge in the chair was only receiving a mild cue shock every time a switch was thrown. I want you to administer an electric shock. They resisted. reported when interviewed two weeks later that they had nightmares about what they had done." Prior to actually conducting the study." Over ninety-two percent said that they would not. "I am going to project a list of words on the wall in front of the person in the chair. Then he began screaming and saying he wanted to stop. the "learner" screamed. At first he just jumped a little. Milgram had written down. "We'll have to count that an error. who was a person in the room with the teacher who pulled down a master switch Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. in advance. no response. he reacted more and more dramatically. Then he said." Then one more time. The subjects obviously had a very hard time doing what they did. four statements he could make in response to objections on the part of the "teacher"—the strongest one being: "The experiment must go on. As the "learner" made mistakes and was shocked.jagia-07146. When he sees a word appear on the wall. and collapsed completely. Milgram pointed out that this experiment was not really fair to Adolf Eichmann because Eichmann had many colleagues who cooperated in his bureaucracy. As the shocks progressed he began jumping and yelling out. his task will be to name the next word from the list before it is projected. "Stop this! I want out! Whoever is doing this stop! I want to quit!" Then as the voltage got closer to the end. When he actually ran the experiment. When the next word appeared and there was no response. but nevertheless did it. shock him again.nr . shock him again. sixtyeight percent of the people went all the way to the top. some went into hysterical laughter." Then the "teacher" (who was the true subject) was led to a room with a one-way mirror so that he could see the person in the electric chair but the person could not see him. The "teachers" sweated excessively. which were labeled clearly in 15-volt increments from 15 volts to 450 volts." In order to get to the end of the row of switches the teacher had to shock the learner two more times while he was apparently completely "unconscious. Milgram said. but they did what they were told." "dangerous shock. Milgram mentioned in passing that the electrode paste was "to keep the flesh from being burnt.co. Above the switches were verbal labels in gradations of degree: "shock. He was seated in front of a panel of thirty switches. Milgram had given a questionnaire to a similar random stratified sample of people from the community around Yale in which he asked if the respondents "would ever purposely inflict pain on a fellow human being. If he makes a mistake. Then he started screaming when he was shocked. Many. regardless of the social circumstances." Later. two steps before the end. based on having memorized the list." "severely dangerous shock." and the learner/stooge mentioned in passing that he had a "slight heart condition. "That's an error.American Psychological Association) Dr. they felt bad about it. some cried. they felt guilty." and two steps before the last switch was an ambiguous but ominous "XXXX. convulsed. Do you understand the instructions?" When the "teacher" fully understood the instructions. even though debriefed and told that it was an act. but the "teacher" didn't know that." Milgram said. the people in the culture from which his sample had come: "Individuals will generally go against their own moral inclinations in order to cooperate with authority. what we prefer." No sub-group in the sample differed in a statistically significant way from the norm of the whole population. I think. age. Most of us would obey Hitler like most did in Nazi Germany. Most of us would have cooperated and felt bad about it but cooperated nevertheless. all of us couldn't have been in the eight percent. what we feel called forth to do based on our empathetic connections with other human beings. Much of my work as a group leader and psychotherapist has been an attempt to discover and reinforce the kind of independent individuality that might allow for those statistics to change. Women did not differ from men.co. religious orientation. and so on were not significantly different. Milgram's presentation was called "A Study in the Legitimation of Evil" and he concluded about the people in his sample. And for the most part. We would all like to think that we would have been in the eight percent who said that they would not go on. I have been fascinated with this work for thirty-two years. One group approached statistical significance—Catholics—and that difference was in the direction of more cooperation with authority rather than less. Most of us still are obeying some questionably constituted authority instead of acting on our own authority most of the time. and by generalization.nr . Their compassion would have to have been stronger than their need to obey the professor from Yale in the white lab coat. Eichmann was just an average guy. We would all like to think we would have been one of them. and groupings by ethnic origin. Average guys are just Eichmanns. Most of us operate from models of what we should and should not do rather than what we feel.to "turn on the electricity" each time an error was made. Most of us have lined up to go to recess and lined up to come back into the classroom and lined up to go to lunch and lined up to come back from lunch and sat in rows and not talked and waited in lines and behaved and waited for the bell to ring and are still doing that. ninety-two percent of the subjects went all the way to the top. but it was not enough to overrule their training in obedience to authority. it was necessary for individuals to be able to act according to their compassion-their identification as one being to another with the person in the electric chair.jagia-07146. we have organized Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. The integrity of their own feelings would have had to be more powerful in determining their actions than their moral obligation to not challenge the constituted authority or rock the boat of the existing power structure. Their sense of individual responsibility and the courage to act upon it would have to be stronger than their years of training from school and church and family to acquiesce to authority. When the responsibility or blame could be shared with just one other person in this way. There were some few subjects who not only quit but proceeded to go talk to the provost at Yale and to Milgram demanding that he stop. Their compassion made them "feel bad" about what they did. One of the things I like about this study is that none of us knows how we would have fared. I used to report on Milgram's work in speeches I made against the war in Vietnam. So are average gals. to demonstrate independence in the circumstance of that experiment. But obviously. and lawyers would generally be getting the minimum wage. Personal development of skills in noticing for employees at all levels is more important even than their belief in or adherence to the corporate culture. That is a revolutionary idea. and skills developed in noticing by employees at all levels benefit everyone and tremendously affect the bottom line. who are more in touch with children because of their love of the being of young beings. Work and The Human Spirit by John Scherer and all of the works of Will Schutz and the books by Tom Peters and many others deal with the fundamental elements of radical honesty as it pertains to corporate life. This distinction is the wooden floor that lets the peasants know a better life is possible. As the Sufis say. This is the source of the revolution of consciousness. Child care workers and parents and teachers.our world to keep it that way.jagia-07146. for example? We might set a maximum of $10 an hour for lawyers because legal work is not all that important. Whole societies suffer in the same way and for the same reasons individuals within them suffer. Suffering is Attachment to Belief Suffering comes from attachment to beliefs to such a degree that the person is trying to convince himself and others that the beliefs are reality. Human organizations thrive when the humans in them thrive.nr . All modern corporations are now discovering that running a corporation requires frequent restructuring. The practical implications of this view for organizations is. and we put our money where our values were. That terrifies the established mind. would be getting lawyers' fees. that nothing lasts as long as it used to. This distinction is now becoming a part of the public dialogue between all the peoples of the world. What is true about all the successful but miserable people I have worked with for years who are functional in a sick system—the depression and anxiety and stress that happens to these folks on an individual basis—is true on the macrocosmic level for whole groups of people. Corporations are one form of human organization. The world would be quite a different place if we valued compassion more than obedience and order. don't you think it very likely that society would be quite different if organized around values that honor being more than obedience to authority? What changes might occur in how we operate together if we had a world organized around honoring the being of others rather than mere order? What if we valued child rearing more than contracts. Learning the distinction between belief and experiential reality relieves suffering for individuals and societies. as well as the establishment. When enough of us have shared honestly. This is what radical honesty is about. ninety-eight per cent of humanity spends ninety-eight per cent of their time at the level of belief. and a minimum of $300 an hour for child care workers because encouraging children to remain more in touch with being by being loved and honored by another bigger being is so much more important than the work of lawyers.co. we discover/invent the possibility of valuing our own minds as instruments of creation rather than do-loops of self-worship or sacred institutional maintenance. What businesses of all sizes must now adopt as a fundamental learning with regard to management Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. as all current leading edge management consultation firms are saying. Frequent restructuring requires frequent re-noticing. Honoring Being Use your own imagination. that things didn't turn out as bad as our minds had predicted. and death. ill health. the kind of hopefulness that attempts to put a good face on despair—yet another pretense. Learning is now more valuable than schooling. and religious institutions. corporations. Living this way is so much fun. What skill you have in learning and in continuing to learn with enthusiasm is based on being grounded in your experience. we live strapped to our pasts and hopeful about our futures. we started doing more of it. and now I'm writing another one based on what we have learned from the workshops. national organizations. I said that telling the truth was not for any high moral purpose. level. I have a whole lot more to say about this in the next book am writing. as individuals together in community. I speak about these ideas and their implications to individuals. rather than our imagined role requirements and obligations. and that all the relative models in the world are less important than skills in noticing and grounding in experience of the people who work there. but that's all I'm saying here. The transition from victim to creator of life as an artist is the focus of this work and it turns out a whole lot of people are interested in that. Everyone already seems to understand about the relativity of models.nr . Often. we just had to invite other people into it. I found thousands of friends who resonated with these ideas about freedom. college and university groups. I wrote a book about it. and the wear and tear of perennially inauthentic relationships is an ongoing source of misery. When I learned. Radical Parenting. When I wrote Radical Honesty. We need to support each other in taking this very personally. when our decisions are dictated by our obligations and beliefs rather than by our preferences.jagia-07146. I said: Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. businesses. The stress of constantly pretending and avoiding being found out. we then had the freedom to create what we wanted in our lives according to our own preferences. are now obsolete. it is merely for practical purposes of fundamentally interrupting the mind. Support of home schooling and individualized instruction is where the future lies. rather than in forcing yourself on with beliefs in perfectionism. I learned from clients in my psychotherapy practice that lying is the primary source of most anxiety and most depression.is that all models are relative.co. After we got good. at living out loud and letting the chips fall where they may. In the first book. but not to have thought deeply about the implications for their own personally held beliefs. Then we discovered that radical honesty is the necessary first step to escaping the jail of pretense. as we have known them from kindergarten through the Ph. conflict. along with my friends and clients.D. organizational management groups. So we started some workshops. The practical implications for psychotherapy are outlined in Radical Honesty and are currently making it a best seller that is published in seven languages. through telling the truth when we could muster the courage to do so. Lying is also the root cause of most psychosomatic disorders. The relevance of these ideas to educational institutions is that schools. through practice. futurists. associations. The mission of the workshops and of this book is to train and support individuals to tell and hear the truth and to be powerful creators of their lives. co. we are all discovering together that. Radical Honesty About Anger The main thing that keeps us attached to beliefs at lower levels of consciousness is our inability to forgive—which is our inability to get over belief about how things should or shouldn't be—which is the source of anger." One thing led to another. It is better than the alternative. So let's learn about anger. not our "shoulds.•"Nothing interrupts the mind like telling the truth. and culture resides in the minds of individuals. rather than a victim. in fact. It takes guts. and our minds take over our lives. It often hurts a lot. reopens old wounds that didn't heal properly. no matter where we live or what we believe. The key to the success of our movement is transcending that sense of obligation to live up to culturally ingrained expectations that is the source of all anger. and now all my friends and I see ourselves caught up in the extremely exciting revolution of consciousness. We are increasingly participating in a conversation about the possibility of living our lives according to our preferences. when we are driven by our obligations—all the things we "should" do—our obligations expand and our lives speed up. Waste it. and other participants in the culture Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. But security doesn't exist. We who know this are becoming a movement. is an absolutely necessary prerequisite to creating a world that works for everyone. It isn't easy. in community. after hiding out for a long time." •"We are each individually responsible for cutting ourselves off from the nourishment of commonplace experience by substituting our interpretations of reality for reality. We believe security comes from principles and from controlling ourselves and other people. it's the only game in town. integrity. That is done in the public domain. Now on the eve of the twenty-first century. and individual freedom has something to do with forgiveness." •"A mind is a terrible thing. The only security we have is in our ability to fly by the seat of our pants. the key to individuality. If cultural transcendence is necessary to contact reality. by practice in getting over anger in the context of a community of friends. It is also the work that frees you to be an individual. Learning forgiveness." •"I believe that fascination with the game of creation is sufficient. that." •"People believe immeasurable loads of crap for the illusion of security. So it turns out. Being mad and getting over it is critical to the ability to create a new community based on noticing and compassion. and it is the focus of the next chapter and it is the pathway to freedom for individuals and the key to free societies." •"Telling the truth. as an individual skill. you need to learn the fundamental skills of getting mad and getting over it. It is the way the statistics from Stanley Milgram's experiments get changed." the possibility of being an artist creating a vibrant life.nr . it starts peace. draining us rather than inspiring us. which involves getting over anger.jagia-07146. To be an individual who operates independently of authority and according to compassion. The ability to do this not only ends wars. What comes next is hard work and scary. 9. It is not easy to do. most of the time. Getting free of the tyranny of the human mind is the first step in the process of becoming a creator. be present to your experience in your body while being mad. tell us to avoid this at all costs. Creators change cultures and families from dysfunctional to functional. To do that. This chapter focuses on honesty about anger because it is the linchpin to learning to be free from domination by the mind.co. or with the assistance of a skillful therapist or trainer if they are dead. By sharing secret memories. we have to get mad at them and get over it by going through it with them. thoughts. This means anger is inevitable. The paradigms that allowed us to survive as children within the family within the culture must be transcended so we can thrive as adults. These are the beliefs to which we are emotionally attached.nr . Getting Over Being Mad There is a specific technology for getting over being mad. Not only is there freedom. Most of us. Anger cannot be avoided. Just Full Disclosure Radical honesty is a powerful process by which people can make corrections in the mind's distorted and only partly conscious map of the world. as well as a lot of experts. Central to that practice is the process of getting mad and getting over it. Essentially you have to get mad in the presence of the person you are mad at. and models—by putting into the public domain among friends what had been hidden and defended— we have a chance to break free of the paradigm of limiting beliefs that we developed in the past. Freedom from domination by the mind for individuals and then families and then small communities and then larger communities is the key to creating a new functional culture. but space is created for true intimacy with current friends and lovers. through forgiveness of begrudged caregivers from the past. Developing skill in detachment through learning how to get over anger that comes from attachment and consequently loosening the attachment is as critical to social change as it is to personal growth. Getting over being mad. if they are alive.disagree with any change because of attachment to the cultural values they have learned. So one of the most critical questions to be answered for any person willing to grow beyond their cultural provincialism is: How do you get over being mad? Not Catharsis. We do not give up attachments without a lot of practice. it has to be gone through and gotten over. would rather just stay mad and think about it Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146. is absolutely necessary for both individual personal growth and cultural change. Our minds. and stay in touch with the experience and the person and the conversation until you are not mad anymore. both internal and external conflict are inevitable. There is great freedom in releasing the heavy load of pretense—and the uniquely distorted view of life made necessary by the vicissitudes of how we were raised. or finding the capacity for forgiveness. be specific and not abstract about what you are mad about. the ones our minds defend as though we ourselves are threatened. Getting over being mad is called forgiveness. with lots of variety and plenty of support and lots of good advice and tons of alternative "mother's little helpers. If you believe you can forgive someone by just deciding to. If anyone has ever told you that you can forgive someone by just deciding to forgive them." talking to someone else about it. If you want to get over being mad." If that doesn't work. you're sadly mistaken and you have fooled yourself out of getting over your anger. becoming "spiritual" or "attaining enlightenment" or any of the other methods of avoidance of face-to-face forgiveness that millions of minds have derived as a way to avoid the work of forgiveness and the experience of forgiveness. you displace your anger by redirecting it to the emotional support of an idea that makes you right and the other person wrong. writing letters and not sending them. You don't know Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.nr . If you think you can forgive someone you are mad at by praying. what the person did or said that made you mad. If the person is dead. It's more fun and it's easier to do. You have heard of or tried many of these ways. Furthermore.jagia-07146. The old paradigm is powerful in keeping itself in charge and the opiates for the people are plentiful. The only way to get over the depression and anxiety and fury and physical illness caused by this way of avoidance is to get a prescription from psychiatrists or other physicians for drugs that help you avoid feelings. writing letters and sending them. illegal painkillers of various kinds are easily obtained. like all of them. I am sure. there are other ways to forgive them without digging them up. thinking. there is lots of advice by experts who will be concerned for your welfare and willing to fix your upset with many congenial old paradigm explanations and things you can do to avoid dealing with your anger. the "easy" way is the one most damaging to ourselves and others and it doesn't work.co. Forget about explaining why. Unfortunately. the way you get over being so serious about what you are angry about is to face it and face the person you are mad at if they are still on this earth and work through it until it gets funny. beating pillows. doing "therapy. shouting at other folks. Being Specific and Getting Face-to-Face About Resentments We have been taught all our lives to abstract from our experience to be able to take control of the experience. You have to say to the person's face. to the experience of being mad—away from the general principle and in the direction of the specific events that preceded the abstraction. but those ways don't work if you are engaged in a conspiracy with your therapist to avoid contact and honest sharing of your anger with the living people you are mad at. still delusional and still angry. you have to come back down from the principle. But let me just review a few of the phony solutions to anger. you are likewise. When you abstract from your experience when you are mad. that person was wrong. This absolutely does not work when you are mad. "acting out" in a protective environment. The drug companies are always there to serve. Seriously.and invent categories full of negative judgment for the rotten jerks who made us mad and look for further proof that we are right and they are wrong. Go ahead and be petty and crazy and do it out loud and magnify the experience. a private dove on the grenade with his helmet. we have to give it up. but don't quit there. anyway. Many of us deal with anger in much the same way as the private in the Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.co. while being completely willing to experience the resentment and communicating it contactfully to the person being resented. while looking the person in the eye and speaking directly to them in a voice with pitch and volume appropriate to the degree of resentment. We all are. One night. You are crazy. but the other men were saved by his heroism. Getting through the experience of anger by getting into the experience of anger is accomplished with a simultaneity of contact with the other person and one's own experience in the body at the moment of speaking the resentment. Such acts of courage are honored. The following major excerpts from the chapter on Anger from Radical Honesty describe the methodology of forgiveness. It detonated under him. as the highest expression of love. go on it. As satisfying as righteousness is. In this moment. you are describing something simple that occurred that both of you can remember (rather than an abstract interpretation of right or wrong or good or evil. You use the phrase. You are petty. But one of the greatest tragedies possible is great courage wasted. We do this to get over taking our violated expectations too seriously. Forgive and go on and create. We all are.nr . So if you want to go on a righteous tirade. Staying present with the person you resent and to the sensations in your body that you associate with resentment. We are driven to fabricate an enemy as a scapegoat to bear the burden of our denied enmity. results in the resentment going away. Just resent them for what they did and don't justify anything. A famous war story tells of a platoon of soldiers who had been fighting together as a unit for some time. Get mad and get over it. We have to do this to get to where we can play with each other again. an enemy soldier lobbed a grenade into their midst. For a few seconds everyone froze. Drop the explanation. "I resent you for…" and name the specific behavior committed or words said (and perhaps tone of voice used) by the person. One outstanding characteristic of human beings is that they are sometimes willing to sacrifice their lives to save others.) This allows you to stay focused on your sensate experience rather than paying attention to your own explanation. Suddenly. How to Deal with Anger Author and teacher and life experimenter Sam Keen says.jagia-07146. "We human beings are Homo Hostilus. We might have to play it up in the process of giving it up. We do this to be more powerful in creating together a life of play and service for each other. as they should be. The man was destroyed. This process is critical to transcendence of belief. Your explanation is just your mind's paranoid way of trying to ensure its survival. the hostile species. the enemy-making animal. Keep going until you get specific about exactly what got you so damned mad." The way we can own what we are attempting to disown by blaming and categorizing and attacking others is to do it out loud in front of them and get over it.why. contrary to popular belief. The contrast between self-perception and perception by others stands out clearly in my work with couples and families. Withheld anger destroys relationships by sucking the aliveness out of them. Fifty-three percent of people who get married in the United States get divorced. and we imagine it will injure everyone we love if we let it go off. and our greatest tragedy. To make things worse. people always resent being withheld from and lied to. Anger wells up in us. As we accumulate resentment for not being appreciated for sacrificing our lives to protect others. We sacrifice ourselves to protect our friends and family. What is even worse is that the poor fool dies over and over again. The tragedy of the useless sacrifice of life has been around for as long as human beings have been around and will remain central to the definition of humanity until we learn to create ourselves differently. That is not the worst of it. When you resist experiencing an experience. even if it was done for their own protection. It stays and Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. for nothing makes your average fool more angry than having to live with a useless ingrate who doesn't appreciate the heroic sacrifices that have been made for his or her benefit. The person who loved you and whom you used to love becomes the biggest pain of your life.jagia-07146. History is full of pitiful.co. we smother the anger the way the private smothered the grenade. the mistaken and useless sacrifice of our own and others' lives for meaningless causes. Anger is not a grenade. it persists. We consider anger a life-threatening experience. Without even thinking. Such recognition exacerbates the problem. Anger is merely an experience. People really get mad when they're resented for withholding anger—something for which they feel they should be appreciated. Nowhere is the waste of courage and love better demonstrated than in everyday cases of the unsung heroes of anger. wonderful. the hero is a fool. pathetic heroes who sacrificed their lives to save those they loved from some imagined threat that seemed real at the time but turned out not to be. They are miserable people who are more terrified of being alone than of living in the misery they know and are familiar with.nr . our willingness to surrender life itself for our loved ones. of the forty-seven percent remaining. in which I am privy to the ongoing arguments between martyr-heroes and hero-martyrs. a little piece at a time. The worst is. What makes meaningless sacrifices look like heroism is ignorance. For aliveness to be restored. most of those relationships are angry people tolerating each other and suppressing hostility. In every case. But. Only the people who live with such heroic fools seem to recognize them for what they are. sacrificing self-expression for the health of the relationship. our acts of love and courage become poisoned memories. the "useless ingrate" usually sees himself or herself as another unappreciated hero. made up of sensations. are central to the tragic joke we are.story deals with the grenade. anger must be expressed and fully experienced. Our greatest heroism. When you experience an experience. Many of us consider ourselves to be heroes and heroines when we are just damned fools. The hero's fear of the devastating effect of anger is entirely unrealistic. it goes away. seemingly from out of nowhere. He or she overestimates the destructive power of anger and feels that it must be controlled even if it means sacrificing his or her life. His courage is wasted. both to the relationships and the individual. but methods of expression vary. "It only seems to make things worse. Anger is universal. Divided expression doesn't work. less strong. Some babies are fussier than others to start with. When people don't get good results from the direct expression of anger. rather than decent and fair. but all babies are in for disappointment as they grow older. Many people have tried to express anger directly at one time or another but have given up because. the odds are the anger wasn't completely expressed. Children periodically get mad. and get over it. because angry. Some cultures are angrier than others. but trying to be decent and fair at the same time. just as it is human to feel love. sick and stupid.takes new form and elaborates itself and fuels the collection of further evidence of the malice and badness of the scapegoat who made you mad in the first place. Trying to be fair and mad at the same time turns out to be ridiculous and feeds the fury." It does make things worse for a short time. We all know and can sympathize with the dilemma. but we will never be authentically angry or authentically fair while we are struggling to be both at once. Trying to be constructive while wanting to destroy is a real dilemma. a division of energy between opposing goals. we may be decent and fair.nr . Adults. To express anger fully. time. Anger is bound to happen to all human beings from being little. Many direct forms fail as well. Anger is not in itself a problem. Probably one or both people were mad. Sometimes they win and get their way and sometimes they lose. and confusing. The continuum can be divided into two parts. The older they grow. Some cultures do a poorer job of responding to natural anger than others. long. we become Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. raise hell. and dependent on others for a long. We must inhibit killing and physical violence.co. more than the anger itself. All children get mad in all cultures. persist in using learned ways of handling anger that don't work.jagia-07146. we must give up most of our constraints on it. Ways of Handling Anger Are Culturally Varied It is human to feel angry. Anger is Universally Human. This attachment to fruitless strategies is the problem. But we must be willing to be angry rather than decent and fair. And they protest angrily. the more disappointments they experience. When anger is expressed in such a way that both people are fully present to the experience. This self-opposition with regard to expressing anger is what perpetuates anger. or fear. The continuum of expression ranges from murder to total suppression and cover-up. however. After we are angry. as some have said. Parental response to these early instances of protest is the start of long-term cultural conditioning. and the people have a new opening in their relationship. desire. All indirect forms of expressing anger are dysfunctional. indirect expression and direct expression. The way anger is expressed has everything to do with the outcome of an argument. As soon as we become capable of having expectations. is what we presently are. but they usually get over it. It seems like it takes forever to get big. the anger eventually goes away. Direct and Indirect Expressions of Anger How does a person in the habit of suppressing anger learn to express it? Expressing anger takes practice and is a process that improves over time. but much better over the long run. it is expressed indirectly.jagia-07146. conclusions. don't help them to handle anger. the most important of which is how we handle the anger that comes with disappointed expectations.co. it will go away. after getting punished for anger and losing a few battles. The little nests of morality tales about anger that make up our JudeoChristian-Greek culture. but we no longer permit ourselves to be angry and to express anger at the same time. and at all stages of growing up. you become distracted. avoidance doesn't work. Forgetting agreements. having accidents. When anger is expressed indirectly. and as a way of being. lying. subside. we don't get over it as quickly as we did when we were younger. miserable people. We learn. the anger does not complete itself—does not discharge. When we deny anger. and for the wrong reasons. and imaginary conversations. and only if we are "right. at the wrong people. we are taught. if being neurotic is protesting against the world being as it is. they help them to be inauthentic. that it is smarter to hide our anger than to express it.nr . mildly criticizing most of another's behavior. So it gets expressed but not experienced. Maybe if we act like it isn't there. in ways that are calculated to avoid the experience of anger. Whether we adopt the neurotic protest as a stand in life. anger gets stored up rather than dissipating. that our children learn from fairy tales and schooling. We earn the label only through persistence over time." Unfortunately. making mistakes. deceptive.capable of protesting not having them met. Brown points out in Life Against Death. neurosis is built in to growing up. Denial. The rest of our lives are colored by the distorted perception of the world resulting from the stockpile of denied and withheld anger. stubbornly persists even though it never works. accidentally saying things to hurt others. Rather. The best thing to do with anger. is to lie about it. As Norman O. in the course of growing up. Unless you experience anger in the body and acknowledge the experience. If someone gets drunk a few times she hasn't yet qualified as an alcoholic." Because we all get angry all the time. Maybe we can just "get over it. alienated. at the wrong times. depends on a lot of factors. the way we perceive the world and the way we conceive of the people in it become distorted. the most primitive and least effective defense against these feelings. when we are older we still experience anger. "You're driving me to distraction!" my mother used to say. Displacement When anger is not expressed directly. The definition of a neurotic is someone who incessantly demands. If anger is not expressed directly. that the world be other than it is. When you are preoccupied with thoughts about someone toward whom you are angry. at certain people. Therefore. standing people up. all of us behave neurotically. we learn early in life that the way to deal with this unwanted anger is to keep it hidden. and go away. On numerous occasions. neurotic. as an incessant theme. We cannot avoid unwanted experiences—like sexual excitement and anger—at the wrong times toward the wrong people just by thinking we shouldn't be having them. We are all neurotic from time to time. We are raised to believe that we should get angry only at certain times. The experience of anger is converted to thoughts about the resented person—judgments. it is not experienced directly. in a rigid stylized form. complaints. and forgetting people's names are all indirect expressions Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. but if she persists she earns the right to the category. In our culture. The anger may get cranked up to a higher pitch than seems reasonable in many small arguments. Even if the person toward whom we are angry doesn't change. cared for.co. Texas. won't express their resentment in person to the person at whom they are angry. they are constantly overpowered. when that extra good boy killed and injured all those people. by killing only one or two people. The people who died on battlefields in the twentieth century all died in the defense of some principle of rightness. and controlled. Most of them were being obedient and righteous. When we communicate our resentment to the person we resent. They contribute to each other's liberation and healing of wounds from the past. The result. Forgiveness always benefits the forgiver more than the forgiven. As difficult as it may be for our minds to accept. Most of them were scared. they Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. who were polite to their mothers and obedient to their fathers. Or worse. always be nice. were pitiful ignorant heroes. much more so than the short-term explosive kind. agree to change. Instead. they do and they will. they thought. we can still forgive that person for our own benefit. and the sacrifice of their lives was a waste. Anger of this kind is dangerous. This is the form of anger with which we have been poisoned and with which we continue to poison our children. People can get over being mad if they face resentment one instance at a time.jagia-07146. the anger dissipates more completely in the moment of expression and shortly thereafter. the direct expression of resentment works better than the suppression of anger to protect ourselves and each other from damage by anger. These kids. Most of them were just kids. So this is what happens with anger: as children grow. Displaced anger is the problem of the age. Often the intensity is because of a number of associated events from the past where anger was not handled sufficiently. become a good Marine and then go up in the tower at the University of Texas and shoot to kill everybody in sight for two hours. we do the best we can to copy approved ways of dealing with anger to avoid getting punished for it. at least in our culture.of anger. People who are willing to do that with each other are a gift to each other. childhood expressions of anger against stronger adults are punished. at some common enemy of the time in the socially approved way. It's not that they don't know they're angry or that they won't talk about their anger. the angry expressions are condescendingly moralized about. however. or at worst. like the youngest kid to make Eagle Scout in Boy Scout history.nr . I was on the campus in Austin. making the current expression part of a healing process that frees the angry person from limitations imposed and anger denied in the past. Most of them were fighting to save their loved ones from some ignorant imaginary threat that probably could have been fixed by the honest expression of resentment between one or two people. As children. Most of them were adolescents ganging together in a common cause of righteous murder to protect their parents who taught them to handle their anger that way. get good grades. or apologize. The extreme alternative to this one-step-at-a-time approach is to be a mass murderer. is that most people don't express anger directly. either overtly or covertly. Most were angry. but the intensity of the experience allows the heat out where it can cool. Most people. This form of anger accumulates and is the direct cause of physical abuse in our society. while angry. No one can have much luck getting over anger-sickness unless they can tell the truth about their experience in the present and in the presence of the person they are mad at. a futile objective. Undoing the Learned Suppression of Anger Overcoming completely the learned suppression of anger is. In fact. •"I can't. When you are willing to have an experience be as it is. fantasize about telling the person off." Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www." and you don't waste all your energy trying to avoid or lie about the experience. and less crippled by denial. criticize. It is a way of losing your mind and coming to your senses and experiencing yourself as a being. prior to categorizing the experience as "good" or "bad.jagia-07146. Agreeing to tell the truth about anger in a committed relationship is a way to get over some of the damage and suffering that comes from how you were raised." •"It doesn't really matter.co. This is not meant as a moral principle. more often than not. complain. we run right out and do it. Some people do become less angry. rather than as a jumble of morals gleaned from whatever your sad story may be. indignation. Some people get over being depressed from suppressing anger. instead of feeling driven by forces beyond your control. relationships get better. Others don't have much luck with it. through psychotherapy and some workshops and trainings. Expressing resentment directly is a requirement for creating an authentic relationship between two human beings instead of an entanglement of two minds. Suppression and displacement to ideals. Some people come to terms with their anger and acknowledge its influence on their lives to a greater degree and become less helpless when they do get angry. The transition from being a foolish hero or heroine to being free of the fear of anger is a therapeutic process you can engage in by agreement with people with whom you have committed relationships." •"It's no use.nr . you have a choice about how you can respond to that experience." and •"You just don't understand. I'm not saying you should tell the truth to be a good or better person.gossip. You can detect the language of helplessness in such phrases as. One of the hallmarks of suppressed anger is helplessness. to the person with whom you are angry. Telling the truth about your anger lets you function better in a pragmatic way. even if the truth is about hatred. and let it out in other indirect ways. but as a functional guideline. Everyone who experiments with telling the truth about anger at least finds out that people don't die if you tell them you resent them for something they said or did. It is a way of growing beyond primitive foolishness to a more advanced form. achieving your goals and enjoying the process." •"They made me. and judgments (against others and ourselves) usually work well enough that by the time we males reach eighteen years of age and some elder idiot tells us to kill some people to defend some principle. Telling the Truth About Anger for the Sake of Forgiveness Telling the truth about anger means making a present-tense statement about your experience. I think. We have been too well trained to lie. when people tell the truth about their feelings. I resent you for…for…for never listening to me.co. Power on the part of the speaker is disowned. and then covers her face with her hands.nr . I can stay home and get that for free." Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. she closes her eyes. Her face is red and blotchy. I want a description of what you are feeling in your body. He is just perceptibly nodding. she lifts her head and faces David again. and derisive laughter.) ANNE: "I resent you for laughing at me.Power is assigned to forces outside the speaker." ANNE: "I knew you'd take his side! You're just like a prosecuting attorney putting a rape victim on trial.) DAVID: "Yeah.) THERAPIST: "Good! Keep going!" ANNE (holding out her hand for a tissue) "I can't…it makes me cry and I don't want to cry." THERAPIST: "'Okay' is an evaluation. her breathing is rapid. If you could tell him directly and expressively what you resent him for." ANNE: (looks at David and then back at the therapist) "He never listens to me. her body is rigid." THERAPIST: "You're lying. Anne has stopped crying. THERAPIST: "Anne. I can't talk to you. not me. I don't need to spend two hours and all this money to be berated. Anne now turns to face him. right. I'm just upset about not being listened to." ANNE: "I'm not angry. Anne.) THERAPIST: "Anne." (She looks back at the therapist for approval.) THERAPIST: "Good. David looks serious now. scowls." (They stare at each other. The following example of a couple's interaction in my office illustrates an angry client being directed to make a present-tense statement about her experience." (She attempts to control her tears. blows her nose. He treats me like a child and I'm sick of putting up with it." (David has been reacting throughout this exchange with dramatic sighs. Secondly.) "I resent you for laughing at me just now. be more specific. you…you…pig!" (Tears have welled up in her eyes. Complete the sentence 'I resent you for…' with something he actually said or did. instead of indirect and poisonous. You are angry. I do listen to you. and you're unwilling so far to experiment with your anger to see what would happen if you were direct. I want you to keep looking at David." THERAPIST: "Look at David and tell him." (Anne glances at her husband. then makes a "See what I mean?" gesture to the therapist. I can't talk to him about anything important and he has no interest in my life. I want you to look at David and tell him what you resent him for. and his jaw muscles work. rather than remaining lost in her mind.jagia-07146. I resent you for laughing at me whenever I'm serious. After a moment." ANNE: (looks at David and reddens) "You never listen to me. not at me. you may find that you feel less helpless and less dominated by David. first of all. and allow yourself to remain in touch with him even if you start to feel uncomfortably angry. in your expression of it. What do you feel in your body right now?" ANNE: (takes a deep breath) "Okay. wait. it's third down.) THERAPIST: "What do you notice?" Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Anne. turns back to David) "I resent you for turning to the football game as I was talking to you about my project!" THERAPIST: "What do you notice in your experience?" ANNE: "I'm feeling sort of…charged up. furious ." DAVID: "Your face is red. panting. her hair is flying. tell David you resent him for what he did Monday night and make it good and loud and direct and without justification. Anne. YOU ARROGANT SONOFABITCH!" (She throws her tissue at him. you'll get your turn to express all your resentment. the rightness of your cases. keep going. My hands are shaking." THERAPIST: "Say the same resentment again. looking at David.ANNE: "I'm tense all over. I can be saying that Martians are invading and the kitchen is on fire. and get me to adjudicate. My…my…I'm breathing fast. I resent you for NOT LISTENING TO ME. Anne. and he'll go. I came home from work and I was telling him how upset I was about not getting this project that he knew was so important to me and he totally ignored me!" DAVID: "Jesus. tell David specifically what you resent him for. David. ANNE: (takes a deep breath. her fists are clenched." ANNE: (shouting) "F_ _ _ YOU!" DAVID: (loudly) "F_ _ _ YOU!!" (They look at each other. with more expression. Staying in touch with your experience in your body. you're doing great.jagia-07146.co.'" THERAPIST: "When did he last do this?" ANNE: "Um…Monday. 'Wait a sec. Tingling. but I want to focus on Anne and have her complete hers first. I want you to focus on your anger and your experience and express your anger without having to justify it.) "I RESENT YOU FOR WATCHING THAT STUPID FOOTBALL GAME WHILE I WAS TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING!!!!" she shouts. you started talking to me right in the middle of a game and it was an important part and I just asked you to wait until the commercial to tell me!" ANNE (to Therapist) "Do you think it's too much to ask a husband to stop watching a football game for a few minutes to pay attention to his obviously distraught wife?" DAVID: "You purposely bring up these melodramas when I'm in the middle of something!" ANNE: "Melodramas!" THERAPIST: "Wait. You're both getting sidetracked into trying to prove." ANNE: "I resent you for telling me my face was red. considers) "He turns on the TV when I'm in the middle of saying something to him." ANNE: "I resent you for watching the football game while I was talking to you about not getting my project!" (She stops. She sits back down. rising out of her chair. Instead of focusing on the legality of your position. (She is shaking. breathing more quickly.) THERAPIST: "Good.) THERAPIST: "Good! What specific things has he said or done that you interpreted as him not listening to you?" ANNE: (pauses. She leans forward.nr . She said. when expressing anger.nr . The anger had a history in her belief about "not being able" to talk to her father. Since we too often underplay anger. Most of us don't know how to identify clearly what anger feels like inside our bodies. Partly. We argued some. DAVID: "What's so funny?" ANNE: "I don't know. but also about what we appreciate and a bunch of other stuff. She switched sides back and forth. For the first time I can remember.) The point of this work is clear. We had a great time!" Admitting Being Upset. she had a dialogue with an empty chair in which she imagined her father was sitting. Later. I'm certainly not crying anymore. we do so only at an abstract level that subsumes too much experience. focusing on the rightness or wrongness of the conversation we just had instead of tuning in to our experience in the moment. One night. and stay in touch with her experience. still on. I got through that visit. particularly about things we are mad about.ANNE: "I feel a lot of energy. When she came back from that trip. David and I talked about our relationship and about my relationship with my father. she agreed to spend three days with her father. And. "If you can't say anything nice about someone. We ignore our racing heart and the flush of heat in our face and the tension building in our shoulders and the tightening of our stomachs." Forget that. and tell him her resentments. I'm laughing because I just realized that my mother used to complain to my dad all the time for the same thing. It's like it's the same stinkin' football game from thirty years ago. Do the reverse. he and my dad and mom and I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning talking about everything. What came out after she wasn't so mad at David anymore was her resentment of her father for ignoring her. With patience and repetition. In this imaginary situation.co. We say we are "upset" about some general set of behaviors on someone else's part. We came up with some new ground rules for our marriage—including telling the truth to each other. including what makes us mad at each other.' While we were still at the beach with my parents. Later on in therapy. people are willing to admit that they feel "upset. the client learns to be mad and pay attention to what she experiences in her body at the same time. Even acknowledging "upset" is a first step. I thought something other than.jagia-07146. she told her father all the things she resented him for quite expressively and then played him telling her his resentments. She went on vacation with David and both her parents. for being cold when she made less than perfect grades. Anne eventually got in touch with her experience of resentment. for giving her advice. and after a while got over it. for criticizing her boyfriends. we need to overplay our expression. don't say anything at all. I was willing and even excited by the prospect of seeing my father again the next time we can get together. We attend to our many racing thoughts." but not that they are angry. and so on. she was elated." She laughs. "When I left there. Denying Being Angry Generally. The anger that she was denying by claiming helplessness resulted in her saying she "couldn't" talk to her husband. We remember the adage. Partly it feels good just to let loose. some of us deny even that. and we both cried some. 'Well." (She laughs again. becoming at one time her father and another time herself. you'll do better when you overstate the case. When we do acknowledge these feelings. The second step is admitting that our "upset" is Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Most people think self-condemnation is a virtue. You haven't completely expressed your resentment to that person you gossiped about. And. Dumb Ideas. besides.) •"I can't even remember what I was mad about. Telling the truth is loving your neighbor. "Whom am I mad at?" Don't let yourself off the hook with the rationalization. "Roses are red. even if you're having a fit.co." This is worthless. You postulate two people.nr . it means to tell the petty. "I" and "myself. Violets are blue. When you have a choice of being mad at someone else or mad at yourself. Love is sharing what you have. Another tip-off is breaking your word while trying not to. I'm not angry anymore. and Inane Rationalizations People ask me.") •"I think I do the same things that I accuse him of doing. Other Clues About the Ongoing Denial of Anger Lots of behaviors indicate anger.) Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. •"There's no point in bringing it up again. You can only be mad at yourself if you are schizophrenic.) •"She probably didn't mean what she said. Another hint of hidden anger is perfectionism. "I'd rather not remember so I don't have to feel uncomfortable." Put the two pieces back together and discover whom you are mad at. always pick someone else. not phony it up and talk about how nice they are while lying through your teeth. It's over." (As if you could reason yourself out of the experience of being angry." (As if "believing" in forgiveness could make you forgive somebody when you haven't. dummy." (Meaning.jagia-07146." struggling. Another clue is self-condemnation." who are mad at each other. We can all make up plenty of legitimate-sounding reasons for continuing to avoid or withhold from the resented person. you are angry." (Then why do you keep thinking about it? Why do you keep bringing it up?) •"I believe in forgiveness.anger. People who are proud of being perfectionists and for whom hardly anything is ever good enough are angry at someone else. Stupid Questions. look for whom you are trying to please: you are probably mad at them. I'm schizophrenic and so am I. She just had a really bad day. The third step is speaking resentments specifically and in contact with one's own body and the eyes of the other person. it's not." (But you do blame him. ask yourself. weak. unjustifiable truth—good and loud and direct so you can authentically get over it so you can love that neighbor for real again. When you find yourself "trying. unreasonable. At times. If you gossip about someone to someone else. "Love your neighbor as yourself" doesn't mean that you are supposed to lie about anger. "Why do I have to express my anger directly to another person? Isn't it possible to just forget about it or just understand the other person's situation and forgive him?" The answer is no. so I can't really blame him. Try treating other people as poorly as you treat yourself. "I'm just mad at myself. or stupid person. striving without any results. Instead of condemning yourself and calling yourself a rotten. being honest about your anger is the only way you have of sharing who you are. You cannot forgive someone else without expressing your resentment directly to her or him. you may find being with him more physically tiring. We all do. Before long. you are living in a sad country song. for getting more attention than we do. you are busying yourself to avoid feeling anger. we have to give up this belief and allow our resentments and other people's resentments to be expressed even if they are completely irrational. We're all unfair. Your communication will be less honest and spontaneous. stupid. As you are saying or thinking these thoughts. or women for being women or loved ones for dying. We human beings are all selfish and unfair and it's worse than useless to pretend we aren't. unreasonable.) All these explanations sound forgiving and noble. You may notice that you'd rather stare at the television than look into his eyes. One of the reasons that getting over the loss of a loved one takes a long time is the refusal of people to admit that they are furious at the dead person for Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www." It takes a lot of courage to change this.•"She has many other wonderful qualities. Is that the baby's fault? Did the baby choose to be born last in the family? It seems unfair to resent people for things over which they have no control. and based on incomplete information. babies for crying. What you are left with is the experience of resentment and the concept of forgiveness—and a deteriorating relationship. Forgiving someone with whom you are angry—actually experiencing forgiving him—only happens after you tell him what he did or said that you resent. Thinking and deciding what to do about the person only serves to suppress the anger. Making a successful case for how your resentment is "right" and how the other person is "wrong" isn't the solution. My Anger May Not Be Right Most resentments are irrational. The problem is that ideas about forgiveness are not forgiveness. They don't even help. Our decision not to express our resentment is based on a deeply held belief that our anger has to be justified. These explanations are generated by your mind so that you can avoid the experience of anger. I don't want to harp on the negatives. you may feel a difference in the quality of time you spend together. men for being men. It's unreasonable to resent younger siblings.nr . it will manifest itself in other ways. whom we also love.jagia-07146. your friendship may feel more superficial than before and you may not like spending as much time with him as you used to. crying in your beer alone full of nostalgia about "what once was but kin never be agin. may forget appointments with him. You must be willing for things to get worse before they get better. To be free of anger. The problem is not that these ideas are inaccurate or wrong. you may be more critical of him." (So you lose touch with your appreciation of her soon after you lose touch with your resentment. righteous. and legitimate. After a while. which they would be if they were experiences rather than ideas. It's unreasonable to resent parents for growing old. If you live with the person. Even though you think the anger is over. Only when you allow yourself to experience and express anger openly will it disappear. It doesn't.co. But we do. but the truth is that we still resent them. it's the problem. and may find yourself inexplicably angry at him more and more. It is common for children to resent a younger sibling for being the baby of the family. For instance. Your body stays tied in knots and susceptible to illness and you can be sure of a bad life and lousy relationships with anyone else you pair up with. Holding grudges against other people doesn't hurt them. The reason for forgiving your enemies is not for their benefit but for your own benefit. it doesn't even bother them much—in fact. Advanced instruction in this principle creates lawyers who are miserable people. and only when. It's not in your enlightened selfinterest to hold grudges. There is a better way to fight that turns out to be equitable in the long run. even if you leave the person you hate.dying. Things turn out fairly when. it even pleases them if they are still mad at you. However. If you force yourself to be fair while still angry. This will occur in direct relation to how much you feel you have to withhold your anger when you are at work. The job will become less satisfying. making mistakes. you will sabotage your relationship with your boss or coworkers to the point where you may as well quit. We are humans. Unless you develop the capacity to do what it takes to forgive other people. regardless of whether it bothers the person you hate or not." Yes. though. or will end up quitting or getting fired. Judges and lawyers ignore this fact. him. Spock of Star Trek. there is a greater possibility that by not expressing your anger. Perhaps you start missing days. We do hate them. because you haven't been able to work things out on your own. and the rewards of keeping your job will be far outweighed by the aggravation of having to put up with these people. or her.nr . Judges and lawyers exist for people who can't handle their anger. So. A judge tells you what to do. or just being more interested in making the boss or coworkers wrong than in supporting them. The result of experimenting with this kind of interaction is very dramatic. Maybe you withhold your enthusiasm a little. Every one of us hates people we love who die on us. We are psychological beings and not logical beings. Fairness versus Forgiveness Many of us are concerned about fairness and use the principle of fairness as our primary rationalization for withholding anger. One thing for sure is this: the biggest fools of all are the ones wasting their lives pretending not to be fools. you can't tell your story from reality. whether you like it or not. and any agreements you make in such a state won't work for you. even though it may look uncivilized and unfair in the beginning. "The reasons I have for not expressing anger deal with real consequences that might ensue if I blew up at someone. not Vulcans like Mr. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.co. Well. people get over being angry. It doesn't make sense to hate someone for dying—they didn't do it on purpose. based on what he or she thinks is fair. and you stay trapped in moral condemnation in your mind.jagia-07146. I might lose my job. you are a fool. you may look like a fool. afterward. The "Dangerous Practical Consequences" Rationalization You might protest. you can forgive him or her. when you tell the truth about your resentments. It might not seem fair to express what seems like intense resentment for petty reasons in the beginning. you might. but the advantages become clear by the time the argument is over. you are a fool! At least if you admit it you will be in good company. you can't forgive yourself. Divorces handled by lawyers often result in children shot back and forth like missiles between hostile camps. The major benefit of expressing your anger completely to someone is that. They are more likely to be trouble. The more we are caught up in our thoughts. pathetic people nobody wants to be around. When we express only our appreciation and withhold our anger. burdensome. But even if there is a risk you will lose it. A lot of people waste their time being well-behaved employees. our relationships inevitably suffer. We don't need any more. This is often why relationships end and families break up. dead. Keep reading. the less present we are to the other person and to what is happening in our own moment-to-moment experience. nor am I encouraging you to keep it. what happens is you get a lifeless. angry mind. We believe that if we expressed our resentment. Eventually. depressing jobs and lousy. some of these people do lose their jobs. Usually. Maybe some of them got kicked upstairs because more passive people couldn't stand putting up with them anymore. rather than destroy. Through carefulness and politeness and good behavior. we lose our ability to be fully present with the ones we love.In addition to less satisfaction and poorer performance. Repressed anger blocks the flow of love and creativity that we once experienced around them. Some remain working for the government as paperweights. many people bring about the result they were trying to avoid in the first place—they stay stuck or lose their jobs. you find yourself confronting this question: "How can I express my resentment in such a way that I strengthen. Damaged heroes with misdirected courage abound. and. the hidden costs include reduced physical health and repercussions in your family life. They are not good little passive-aggressive obedient people. Don't volunteer for that job. to keep them from leaving) is ultimately what leads to our inability to make contact with them. they choke themselves down to being bored. and generates a flurry of thoughts for us to get caught up in. The people who actually get to the top are both more nasty and more loving. avoiding the risk of telling the truth about resentment. your relationship with your boss and your coworkers will probably improve if you confront them. I have coached a lot of people through conflicts at work in private industry and the government. I am attempting to answer all the objections to being honest about anger that have come up in arguments with people from our culture with me before.jagia-07146. dead. we're almost through. What seems clear to me is that people don't often advance by simply hoping for the best and behaving themselves. be aware of the costs of hanging on to it. stressed-out. depressing family lives. By not expressing resentment directly. sooner or later.co. depressing job and an unhappy family life for your effort. it would destroy our relationship and our beloved would leave us. my relationships Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. We have an oversupply of cowards with lousy.nr . You probably won't lose it. miserable. I am not encouraging you to lose your job. Some got promoted because they stopped being willing to stand around and gossip about who was to blame for their unhappiness. Will Telling the Truth About Anger Destroy Our Relationship? Many of us won't express anger with a loved one. hoping for advancement. Repressing anger to control other people's behavior (in this case. in fact. But without the freedom to tell the truth about our experience. and many of my clients have climbed to the top of their professions. Unless they are civil servants. even that tradeoff doesn't work. Once you start getting more honest with yourself about your judgmental. we become less able to appreciate them. The over-expression of anger can also be a form of lying. What usually happens without a good guide through the initial explosive experiences is that the person runs away from the experience. Don't stop with that.jagia-07146. Most people express anger ineffectively. "I'm not angry. This anger is good fuel to burn. even though intensely expressed. saying. It is best to learn how to fight so that the air between you and the other person is cleared. If a therapist or coach or friend can support an angry person to stay with the experience of being angry even a few seconds longer with each explosion. I just don't like him (her) very much. an attempt to change the habit of smothering anger can be explosive.with others?" There are ways of expressing anger that work. Paying attention to the experience you are feeling in your body while angry is the key to learning how to use anger rather than having anger use you. and then like firecrackers." you are free to relate in a brand-new way to that person rather than to your ideas about the person. If you contacted that person and told him forthrightly what you didn't like about him and quit there. and better later. My Anger is Too Explosive: I Might Hurt Someone In the beginning. What is it that you don't like about that person? Perhaps you feel that this person is a snob or pushy or dishonest or crude or insensitive. Their conclusion is incorrect. the cure for phony heroics can begin. when they see how uncomfortable the situation has become. many of us manifest this being-removed-from the anger.nr . Think of someone with whom you are presently angry. Phony Explosiveness One has to look and listen carefully to distinguish between a phony expression of anger and an authentic one. like grief. both because of its magnitude and because it contrasts so dramatically with former politeness. the explosions become like conventional bombs. After a little practice. never decreases or subsides because it is a phony expression in the first place. They are loud and intimidating about it to cover over other feelings.co. An Experimental and Experiential Approach to Curing Anger Sickness Look into your own experience of what happens to you when you get angry. The backed-up fund of resentment is released in a torrent. This coverup anger. usually hiding grief or hurt feelings or fear of intimacy. The first blow-up seems like a nuclear explosion. The purpose of expressing your anger directly instead of indirectly is to get in touch with the source of your own judgments. By the time a person decides that he doesn't like someone. When you have "cleared the air. A noisy expression of anger is not always the truth. he is already one step removed from his anger. These are the ones you want. The eventual goal is to have hundreds of tiny explosions a minute. chances are it would not improve your relationship. If you can't think of anyone. The ways that work the best make things worse for a while. Some loud-mouthed people are angry all the time. the progression down the path from "explosion" to "engine" doesn't occur. then like dynamite." or "I just don't feel he's the kind of Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. or a way of covering over other feelings. decide that it's best to leave those feelings hidden. it's what makes Sammy run. and there are ways of expressing anger that make the situation worse. then think of someone whom you don't particularly like. When asked if we are angry. like an internal combustion engine. and then. For this reason. The form our anger presently takes is that of judgments. judgments are based on something that the person specifically said or did that we resented.You have to be verbally and vocally unrestrained with regard to volume and propriety. and let the tears or laughter or pain or anger not be interrupted by your mind until they go naturally to completion.You have to tell the truth about the specific behavior you resent. priest.nr . Maybe he just said "hello" and you didn't like the way he said it. 2. company executive. Let it stay that way. or daughter who attempts to do other than this is likewise full of it. Any lawyer. "vibes. bureaucrat. are you ready to talk about the future. and explanations come later. Perhaps what he did reminded you of someone else or of some earlier event in your life you are only partly conscious of. 5. son. The specific incident may be hard to recall at first. dislike. you are in a better position to express your resentment and heal your relationship with that person. Then." But these judgments are founded on one or more very specific incidents about which we were angry at one time. with the same attention to your feelings and to the other person as when you are expressing resentments. We are all more petty and selfish than we are willing to admit. Close your eyes for a moment. but invariably. or make any agreements. husband. When we are willing to admit our petty anger. The process of forgiveness involves the following six minimal requirements.You have to stay with any feelings that emerge in the process. When you can identify what these specific things are. 4. like tears or laughter.co. The person didn't necessarily say or do anything obviously offensive. and other thoughts. labor leader. make arrangements for the future. Exercises for Getting Into and Getting Over Anger Exercise One. Trying to make it seem reasonable—trying to make the resented person wrong is the source of all the judgments. picture a person you don't like. psychotherapist.You have to pay attention to the feelings and sensations in your body and to the other person as you speak.jagia-07146. face-to-face. It may be more related to a previously stored record than to current reality anyway. (Remember Sally and Rags from chapter two about the reactive mind?) The rightness or wrongness of what someone said or did is irrelevant. democrat. We may not be consciously lying. wife. 6. none of which may be skipped. head of government. we get over it faster and we have less of it in the future. 1. or other patrolman who tells you differently about this is full of crap. to the person.person that I want to be around. Strained relations between people are not based on evaluation.You have to express any appreciations for the person that come up in the process. 3. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. because we may not be experiencing that anger right now. The evaluations.You have to stay with the discussion until you no longer feel resentful of the other person. and only then. Your anger is unreasonable and unfair. Any diplomat. regardless of any evaluations you may have about how it makes you look. evaluations." or "not liking the way they are" as much as on specific events—what they at one time said or did. Don't worry. and less trouble. You may have to experiment with it several times before you get used to the process. It's a start. you may get the experience of forgiving the person you were mad at. They are to help you be able to discover something about the process of expression itself. if you try it to see what it feels like. They do it to hide. not to figure out whether you are "good" at following the rules.nr .co. The purpose of these guidelines is to direct your attention to the process of learning how to express yourself in the moment so that something happens to actual feelings in your body at the level of sensation. less threatening. (You may also tell him your appreciations if you have any or if any show up after your expression of resentment. Something will happen because of your willingness to pay attention to your experience.and have an imaginary dialogue with him.jagia-07146. Ask him to meet with you as a favor to you. each new Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. but for your own selfish benefit. Exercise Two. Take a break from reading here and do this exercise. Guidelines for Expressing Anger Just in case you decide to grow beyond being normal. They would rather be kind to their enemies than forgive them because it requires little courage to fake kindness. Persist until he agrees to meet with you. and to report to the person with whom you are speaking. it's easier. Finish reading this chapter before you go to your meeting. Then imagine his response and respond back. Admit your cowardice—your unwillingness to tell the truth if anything that you judge to be significant is at stake. Meet your enemy and forgive her or him. Tell people. and you are scared whenever you are angry. and get complete with him. Your goal is to be willing and able to acknowledge to yourself. less risky. It does work. here are some guidelines for you to follow in expressing anger. Admit it. That is. Exercise Three. Pay attention to your body as you engage in this imaginary dialogue. These guidelines are not moral rules to be memorized and obeyed. not as a favor to her or him. You lie like crazy when you are scared. Now you know why most cowards like to think of themselves as heroes. Maybe you never will.) Tell the person when you call that you want to meet him to tell him what you are mad about and get over it. The point is to be aware of your experience while experimenting. Go call that person you just had an imaginary conversation with and make an appointment to tell him your resentments in person. Tell him what he did that you resent. Admit it. You can use these strategies and they still won't work if you are only attending to the rules and not to your experience. Most people are too ruled by fear to take a stand on telling the truth. They are strategies. These guidelines will make you aware of your moment-to-moment experience of anger or of appreciation. You Are Probably a Coward You probably didn't do all three of those exercises. they are too afraid of other people to tell them the truth. Tell him your judgments about him. even though it may not make sense. It works experientially. you can start there. Reading these guidelines will do you no good if you are unwilling to experiment with this approach to see what will happen. This approach may not "make sense" to you. You are normal. In fact. co. Substituting something milder for the word "resent" is another approach that doesn't work.nr . If you expect to handle your resentment without discomfort. there is a free space in which forgiveness and love occur. not to your experience of him as he is. To do so is usually a waste of time that increases judgments and displaces feeling. •Start your sentences as often as possible with the words. You will miss many of his nonverbal responses. as he is. and then puking your guts up anyway. whether or not it is comfortable. that there is an "I" and a "thou. it is not. because it can start the process of experiencing the feelings. You resent people. staying sick for three hours. given how you were raised. Take the time to see him in person. If doing this makes you uncomfortable. that approach won't work." The slight difference in the wording may seem insignificant to you. If he is a long distance away. talk face-to-face to the person with whom you are angry. a phone call is better than nothing. "I resent you for…" or "I appreciate you for…" The structure of a sentence that starts with those words ensures that the anger or appreciation is personal.jagia-07146. Most people resist saying. But don't engage in long conversations on the telephone. and keep talking to the person you're interacting with until you feel complete. You need to look each other in the eye and react to each other moment-to-moment. and you'll be able to experience him newly. not facts or vague ""it's". While you will feel more comfortable being less direct and saying. It's like drinking PeptoBismol to keep from vomiting. your contact with the other person is much too limited and you are relating to your concept of him. Those phrases deal more with a general description of a state of being than with the active expression of anger. Appreciations often emerge right in the middle of expressing resentment. "I resent you for…" because they don't want to get "personal." "I resent you" has a much stronger and more personal impact than "I resent the fact that…" In the latter statement you are saying that you are angry at some "fact. Acting according to what feels comfortable when you are attempting to get over anger is a mistake. in that moment. This is the reverse of what is needed when you're mad." They are uncomfortable when they are directly expressing their resentment to someone. You'll have no more withheld resentments or appreciations. The quality of the interaction is different. fine. When you let up on your judgments of someone. Here are the guidelines: •Whenever possible. you will eventually be complete with him. Appreciations are to be Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Make yourself uncomfortable on purpose. It is impossible to do any of this work over the phone. you can forget it.experience as it emerges. "I am annoyed at you for…" and "I am angry with you about…" are introductions to a story about anger. Over the phone. "I resent it when…". A lot of people are also uncomfortable expressing direct appreciation and have as much difficulty admitting warmth as anger. You won't be able to completely experience your resentment and have it disappear unless you are willing to tell the truth. Love is when you let someone be the way she is. identifying something you are feeling toward another person in the present moment of speaking while the person is there. The sentence that begins "I resent you" is different in that it is active and transitive. If you refuse to quit. right now. you are doing this to get over your grudge. If you haven't gotten down to the specifics yet. but you must eventually get specific. so state the feeling in the present tense. because they distance you from the other person." isn't specific. Just remember to go back over the same ground in a more specific way after you blow out the vents. Look closer into what the person actually did that made you conclude that he was snobbish. Trying to hold on to appreciations works just as poorly as trying to avoid resentment. They won't change the nature of your relationship— of how you are now. In the past tense. What you get from intensity will compensate. for what you lack in specificity. The thoughts are poisonous and not constructive." •Don't stop with general descriptions of behavior or general judgments. it disappears. He hears only that you're trying to make him wrong. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. to interrupt your own mind by being more specific. at first." You haven't told him what he actually did or said that you resented—what led you to the conclusion that he was snobbish." the person won't get what you're talking about and you won't get over the resentment. You are demanding that the person "buy in" to your judgment of him. "I resent you for never appreciating me. You might begin by expressing a judgment.nr . Report the specific incident(s) that you remember: "I resent you for saying I bought the wrong groceries last Thursday. rather than to provide a case against your enemy. "I resented you. It isn't true. you aren't finished. get specific. •Eventually. Even though you can't always identify the particulars. New appreciation for a person can only emerge in a clearing created by completing the experience of past appreciations and resentments. They are destructive. if you say to someone. They allow you to avoid contact with the other person and your experience and to maintain your righteousness rather than express the anger and get off your pose. "I resent you for constantly complaining.jagia-07146. Just because you are talking about something he did in the past." You still resent that person. This resentment must be expressed more specifically. "I resent you for not being romantic. "I resent you for saying. When you can experience the feeling. and I resent you for saying.co. but do so as loudly as possible. "I resent you for getting drunk and falling asleep on our anniversary. in the beginning. As I have said over and over. "I resent you for turning your head and not answering me when I said 'Hi' to you at the grocery store. you get the chance to feel angry again and to experience the anger." or "I resent you for acting snobbish toward me. resentments are only descriptions or stories about what happened or how you were. When you throw in the words "always" or "never. "I'm not a snob. 'Only hicks like country music' the other day. such as." he won't be clear about what you resent— although he may imagine he understands. When resentments are stated in the present tense. Remember. the real resentment might be expressed by. it persists in the form of apparently reasonable thoughts." are both too vague and too global to be gotten over. In this example. when you avoid the experience of anger. for what he did or said in the past. •Speak in the present tense." Similarly. go ahead and be general. For example." If you are too mad. and say that. you probably resent the person for what he specifically did or said. "I resent you for being a snob.handled in the same way and gotten over in the same way. He doesn't have to get it. don't say." or. He'll probably just say." Or. 'I guess I'll have to buy groceries' yesterday. "I resent you for saying. cowering. the tone of voice of the questioner. •Stay there with the person beyond the time it takes to exchange Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. People outside of you can be depended on to fight back and take care of themselves. It is in the public domain where it can get cleared up. phony tone of voice" (abstract). 'Did you remember to get something for Grandma for her birthday?'" Then." This may sound ridiculous and unfair. You don't need to protect your spouse from your irrationality. get over the misery you create for yourself by expressing your anger out loud.nr . You may resent Grandma for having a birthday. selfish mind and raised the roof out loud like a fool." "I resent you for mentioning Grandma at all. You will get set straight in a minute. You can appreciate someone for the same thing you resented her for. who said they were out of Grandma's brand. You may resent having a grandmother. You and Grandma can also have a more alive relationship if you tell each other the truth about your anger and guilt and sense of obligation. Go see Grandma and tell her the truth. Clearly your spouse is not at fault and is being blamed. But note this: the unfair blaming is being done out loud. not in your secretive mind. and anger. however. You may resent the clerk at the store where you went for the present. instead of living in a little hut of poison thoughts. being asked if you got it. you are the only one who is responsible for all your expectations. If you just present someone with a rehearsed. frowning) and state your resentment clearly. being told to get her a present. What you want is the feeling of completion and wholeness that comes when you have told the truth about your petty. suppose your spouse reminds you of an obligation and you get mad. "I resent you for your tone of voice when you asked me that question" (more specific). Try it. the look on the face of the questioner." You probably already felt guilty about forgetting Grandma's present. "I resent you for looking at me now." "I resent you for frowning. you may resent your spouse for telling you to get a present in the first place. What you put out there relieves you. You might say. You resent your spouse for asking you the question. for violating your expectations—look back to what he said or did to create that expectation. or the smell in the room when the question was asked. What a relief! You don't have to feel guilty now.co. You may have some withheld appreciation to express as well. •Stay in touch with your experience as you talk. What you need to do to tell the truth and have the resentment disappear is this: First. For instance. feeling tense. Lousy as the idea may seem. notice the bodily sensations associated with what you have called guilt (feeling constricted in your breathing. and often do.jagia-07146. Express your resentment to him for what he said or did. When you resent someone for what he didn't do—that is.•Focus as much as you can on what did happen instead of what didn't happen. carefully-worded statement about your resentment. When you pursue the experience further. you probably won't have much of an experience of your anger dissipating. You can. You can count on it. I recommend you express your feelings as they come up during the interaction. Start with. "I resent you for asking me if I remembered to get Grandma a birthday present. disappointment. You and your spouse now live in a new space. having to buy her a present. "I resent you for your innocent. What you withhold will kill you. •Keep it up. One may say as an aside. If that happens. "I appreciate the fact that…". and keep stating them as they come up. Be willing to have the process take as long as it takes. •After you both have fully expressed your specific resentments. You will tend to withhold your feelings on later occasions because you have practiced that for years. These exercises are just suggestions. and allow the other person to resent you for resenting him. Exercises Again To diminish the amount of anger you have and the degree to which that anger runs your life. they often retreat into superficiality. I gave you some exercises and you probably chickened out." When you feel warmth in your chest and a smile on your face. you can transform your relationship to anger by agreement. express your appreciation in a clear way: "I appreciate you for the way you look right now. Here is another chance. eventually you won't have anything left to resent each other for.nr ." Then they'll switch the subject to something trivial. they will talk about anything but their real feelings. not a moral resolve to be better. Eventually you will just be sitting in a room looking at a person. "I appreciate you for staying here and listening to me. we discover our appreciation.jagia-07146. If you can't think of how to end the sentence. Awareness is what causes change. "I appreciate you for…. "I appreciate you for…. You will be grateful to her for having stuck with you through another fight. but you can always get clear with the person as soon as you realize that you are withholding. If you are willing to state your resentments. After we release our withheld anger. you have an incredible opportunity to have a real. express those resentments and go on. It meant so much to me. Keep checking your body to see how you feel. People notice that even though they felt loving and inspired after they talked. More often than not we realize that we really love this person. Don't rush to forgive someone because you are uncomfortable about having so many resentments." After some appreciations are expressed. "You know. It probably won't take as long as you fear." or. The two of you can support each other to continue to tell the truth. Be honest about whether you really feel complete with the person. Earlier in this chapter." or. Tell the truth of your experience even if it's. "I still feel uncomfortable sitting here with you. you're still not finished. the next time the two people meet. alive relationship." not.co. but they are terrified of experiencing love. At that point. some more resentments may emerge. It's no wonder that when an authentic exchange occurs. After an emotional exchange in which two people tell the truth." you are probably still angry and haven't finished expressing your resentments—so keep going. You will be willing to live and let live. weeks may go by before they see each other again. This is not an accident. It takes practice. state your appreciation the same way. People are scared of feeling anger. Are your shoulders tense? Are your arms crossed? Are your lips compressed? Do you feel like you want to get away from this situation as soon as possible? If the latter is true. Say. "I appreciate you for agreeing to do this experiment with me. It will probably take longer than you like. You will see clearer. You don't have to do them and they may Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. there is more that you are withholding.resentments. and change your experience of anger through awareness. I'm so glad we had that talk last time. Once you have broken through to another person by telling the truth. keep in mind that the exercise is to go on for ten days. "I resent you for parking in front of the driveway and I demand that you move your car. in fact. Awareness: Exploring. you might have escaped some of their wrath. Better to be punished by yourself than by them. Get a mutual friend to mediate. Stevens' book. of having made a real mistake and feeling bad about it. Mistakes are Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. or if you get stuck during the meeting. Meet afterward and make an agreement to experiment for ten days with telling the truth about your resentments to each other. based on denying that you were mad at them. When you feel your way through the experience by facing it.nr . Start by asking them to read this chapter and talk about it in the group. and as an attempt to keep them from punishing you too bad. when it was first learned. and you sometimes got mad at the adults who made you do some things and wouldn't let you do other things.jagia-07146. Agree that for ten days. your anger toward them. and your power to get over the guilt comes from facing every detail and every imagined catastrophe. check to see if some of the anger you imagine on the part of the offended party is." When you were a child. If the going gets rough. to read this chapter. Experimenting." the offender doesn't have to move the car. That doesn't mean they all have to be acted on. Read this chapter. anger will show up.be useful just at certain times when you are stuck on how to get over your anger. Make an Agreement to Experiment with Anger Get together with some friends or your spouse and members of your family old enough to read this chapter. You imagined they would be very mad at you. You just feel bad. and you had to deny your anger or else make things even worse. you felt very bad. (John Stevens' name is now Steve Andreas. When you were mad at them and you made a mistake you knew they would get you for. Ask both of your friends. you might likewise have avoided their wrath. particularly the three exercises entitled Guilt. if one of you says. all resentments may legitimately be expressed. Resentment.) Guilt Those situations in our lives when we experience that terrible feeling of having done something bad and been caught. read John O. Ask for Help from Friends If you are stuck at not being able to make the arrangements to meet someone to express and get over your anger because you are too cowardly or the person won't meet with you. Anger shows up when you examine your guilt feelingly. All he has to do is hear the resentment. If you were mad at the big person who was going to be mad at you. the one you resent and the one you asked to help. because guilt. don't seem to be related to anger at all.co. Experiencing. you were powerless. and if you learned to control your terrible self so your anger toward them didn't show. you felt even guiltier. ask a third party in. For example. you punished yourself. and Demand. Have a Conversation in a Group About Anger Get a group of friends together and start an ongoing group to support each other for a while in learning about how to handle anger. Further Exercises For further exercises. came from instances of what Fritz Perls called "projected resentment. as a method of support for each other. So when you feel guilty. If you were hard enough on yourself. You may get angry at me because.jagia-07146. If not. Telling the truth about your anger is a way to get back to your experience of being. meditate regularly. Then see for yourself if you get a result that works better than your former methods of control. They are intended to assist you in experiencing your anger more intensely and publicly so you will have a better chance of getting over being angry. You will gradually become noticeably less angry as who you consider yourself to be changes to include your experience of just sitting quietly.) Review and Summary These exercises and guidelines for expressing resentment and appreciation are for your use in discovering how to let the experience of anger work itself out. Here is a quick review of the guidelines about anger: •Whenever possible. •Stay in touch with your experience as you talk.often made out of anger in the first place. you don't get your money back. Meditation can increase your satisfaction and decrease your anger. (Don't take any of their advice about anger. state your appreciations the same way. then meditation works. Coming forth with Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. •Focus as much as you can on what did happen instead of what didn't happen. out of politeness and your protection racket. When this occurs. is the difference between a life lived in hate and a life lived in love. People who are perennial screwups are usually angry people. and if you are not using meditation to avoid acknowledging and expressing anger. TM instructors are great at teaching meditation. •Don't stop with general descriptions of behavior or general judgments. •Stay there with the person beyond the time it takes to exchange resentments. get specific. Meditation If you are willing to confront your anger in all the ways I have discussed.nr . •After you both have fully expressed your specific resentments. "I appreciate you for…" •Speak in the present tense. talk face-to-face to the person with whom you are angry. •Keep it up. and if you are willing to do all of what I have discussed so far.co. Revealing the withheld judgments and feelings you have hidden. Why Do All of This? Being honest about anger puts you on the road back home to being alive like you were as a child instead of mind-deadened by what you have learned to lie about. I recommend Transcendental Meditation (TM). you will feel like you are more angry than you used to be. You will become more familiar with yourself as the noticer. •Eventually. consider the possibility that you are not angrier but are simply experiencing more. after following the guidelines. You will gradually become less attached to yourself as a personality. where you love yourself and therefore have something left over with which to love someone else. •Start your sentences as often as possible with the words. "I resent you for…" or. These guidelines are suggested as substitutes for your usual methods of controlling anger. If you want your anger to decrease noticeably in a relatively short time. co. We can. Thanks for the cars and Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146. Thanks for the computer. Even though they will not work for us anymore. It is one of the ways back to the path of the "light that enlightens the light. Thanks to all the misguided educators and parents who brought this chance into being. the autocracy of top-down parenting. we have the Information Age.your anger will give you your life back. politicians. Thanks for all the material goods and better food and better shelter and better toys. Thanks for that most-destructive-of-all twentieth century and all the bloodbaths from which we learned so much about malice aforethought and malice after thought. Thanks to all the union organizers and cops and corrupt politicians. If we are to bury the old paradigm we must forgive all the bearers of the old ways. Thanks to all the wage slaves and scrooges and people in between. Thanks for all those attempted celebrations of life. We appreciate all of you for sacrificing your lives for us. Thanks to all the religious people and the warriors who defended beliefs to the death. be grateful for their creations and their sufferings and for all the modifications of the ideas and ideals they inherited that were changed through their experimentation in how they lived and created." that light of being that first clicked on in the womb and which still is humming right along now. for good reason. parents. It is a way to feel complete and not be in need of someone else to make you be whole. Thanks for those hundreds of years of experimentation with altered states of consciousness when you had only alcohol to work with. the feudal system of top-down teaching.nr 10. we still thank you for building that last rung we climbed up on. In Praise Of The Old Paradigm . The survival of humankind depends on it. the good. Thanks to all the alcoholics and factory workers and military personnel." Thanks to the Industrial Revolution. Thanks for all the images of romantic idealism and its corollary suffering. To all those people we say: "We appreciate you for all those solutions that worked in your lifetime. just as we are experimenting and creating in our own lives with what they gave us. Thank you for all the miserable wasted lives under top-down management that led to our current prosperity and comfort. and technicians for the wonderful heritage into which we were born. Thank you for all those nights of walking and rocking when we were little and all the hours you worked and all the care you showed along with the abuse you propagated. Here is one more. We must affirm all the fantastic technological gifts and benefits that have come from the intellectual pioneers who preceded us. We must acknowledge our appreciation to all the workers. even as we speak. Thank you for all the moralism and the shoulds and the systems of self-torture you taught us. Thanks for movies and television and technology. teachers. It is now time to say good-bye to the old paradigm of top-down management. both those that worked out and those that didn't. Thank you for all the shows on television. It is time to have a funeral and to give our blessings and thanks to that human inventiveness into which we were born and which sustained us until it didn't anymore. That is one reason. and we have new insight about their pitfalls and side effects. the bad and the ugly. " I am the sole authority on my Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. One of the ideas to be gotten from that long chapter about anger is that your own mind is the source of your anger. Thanks for all the great radio shows and all the talk shows.jagia-07146. Our ability to discover our true identity as creator of the world. the freed-up energy we have as a result of forgiving other people is both renewing and useful. You can express it and feel your way through to forgiveness or you can remain righteous. To sustain the benefits of forgiveness. Thanks for the Great Books of the Western World and for passing on to us the Great Conversation. Thanks for all the mythologies of the world and for the evolution of modern psychology. There are no other objects. use them the rest of your life. I have added to it and modified it and can't remember what is mine and what was theirs. is a direct result of transcending the jail of the mind through the process of forgiveness. no others except the "objects in me. Creating Your Life highways and buildings and cities and access to the countryside. You and I are the source of our own anger and can be the source of forgiveness for others and ourselves. I cannot remember who wrote this so I cannot give them credit for it. You Are The Creator Of The World Victims are not Creators. Creators are not Victims. If we do choose forgiveness. You are the one responsible for creating your anger. Thanks for all the music. I got the following summary outline many years ago and have been using it as a handout in my workshops. Thank you and good-bye. Thanks for listening to the Native Americans who taught us so much that eventually became a part of our Constitution. Thanks for recorded music and CDs and for giving us access to the greatest moments of all the artists and performers of the world. but I appreciate with all my heart the person who first wrote this down. Thanks for aviation and all its advances. by virtue of being perceivers. We ask you to adopt these assumptions for the duration of a chosen time period. where getting over things is more valued than being right. Thanks for all the poetry. Thanks to the framers of the Constitution of the United States and everyone who has helped put it into play and kept it alive. You are the only one who makes it happen and you are the only one who can do anything about getting beyond it." This is my existence. inspect the results. They occur only inside of me. is way more fun than living among the merely righteous.co. People who create their lives as artists operate from a fundamental set of assumptions. I believe it was one of my clients. Thanks for television and video games and movies and movie videos. and then if you like what you discover. Hanging out with people who share these assumptions and have chosen to live in this kind of story.nr . I influence them and in the process "do me. The benefits of forgiveness can be extended by taking even further responsibility for the quality of our own lives. All my perceptions are my own doing. Thanks for the Internet. use the energy that results from it to create with–and contribute to– other people by taking on greater responsibility. Thank you for translating and teaching all the wisdom traditions of the East and of the Middle East in the second half of the twentieth century and all the practices that came from them.11. The skill required to play at this level of the video game of life is considerable. There is a way to use your mind to keep yourself from falling back to the neurotic survival skills of the mind. tense. simply because they loved the idea of it existing. I AM. Here at the Center for Radical Honesty. the Rag hasn't been produced in almost a year—sure you want to say this???) run a lot of workshops. and this makes a community of mutual love and respect possible." All parts of my fantasies are my own doing. I am not an agent acting on me. we develop skills in forgiveness. I am an expanding. pain. and the Course on Creation three or four months after that. All my dreams. In our little subgroup of this larger community of wisdom and compassion." I am a unitary whole. I am my body. They occur solely inside of me and they exist only as manifestations of me. exhilarate. we play at this work pretty much all the time. WE ARE ALL CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATE. It keeps up on the news that folks like us all over the country generate.feelings and perceptions.jagia-07146. anger. fear. We work for each other on each others' projects. The Mind as an Instrument of Creation People in groups can help each other to organize their lives as acts of creation rather than a system of "survival in spite of" their early childhood training. I have complete responsibility for how I do myself. we publish a quarterly newsletter. Personal power is the result of personal growth. TO OWN THAT YOU ARE THE SOURCE IS THE KEY TO RESOURCEFULNESS. The Radical Honesty Rag ***comes out regularly to support everyone who has a vested interest in this work.nr . as Robert Fritz says. and no responsibility for how you do yourself (unless you are my young child). They occur solely inside of me. I do not have "parts.co. depress. my writings. so that we are called forth by vivid imaginings of what our creations will make possible. The community of support for radical honesty also supports the practices that allow for the constant renewal of enthusiasm. and my constructions are my own doing. We live a creative life because of constant delivery from the frozen concepts of mind. After learning to practice honesty. People are invited to continue in the creation of an ongoing community of support for themselves by participating in the Course on Honesty. rather than having the present be a reaction to the past. They exist only as manifestations of me. I am always in some "state. Creation in Community A community of support for radical honesty is a living context of support for individual creation. and do tours of various kinds. Imagined projects become reality when shared in a community of committed listeners who speak and listen projects into being. We don't lead a creative life because we should. love. changing organism. This empowers people to create individual projects they can point to as something they brought into being. the Course on Forgiveness that is held about three or four months later. You do it by living into a vision of the future. bore. ***BRAD. creating in the present from the future. frustrate. write books. My existence is the process of "me doing me. joy. Then we have the power to create Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www." I ache. where the rubber meets the road. Whatever freedom you gain from your mind can only be protected by putting the mind to work creating. The Courses cost money and time (hours and hours) and each participant has to agree. As they say at Landmark Education. in advance. be happy." Whether you do this work in one of our groups. as you actually live it.co. rather than being victims of the past. The ongoing Radical Honesty Community is organized around living as creators. The Advanced Course.jagia-07146. their lives change when they change how they live. Every person who is able to make their life work by telling the truth rather Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. The workshops are about how each person's mind reacts and rationalizes to provide an illusion of control while people remain constrained within the confines of habit. Now. where they conduct The Forum. such that individuals become creators of their lives using their minds. That is why the end focus of all the training groups is to integrate the benefits of freedom from domination by the mind into your day-to-day life by using your mind to bring about the results you envision. The purpose of the trainings is to empower all participants to live their lives out loud and design their futures as players. Our primary mission is to create a world community of friends who support each other. The purpose of the whole curriculum is to apply the fundamental principles of radical honesty as taught in the workshops to each individual life. must be tamed.nr . based on the regular practices of mindfulness designed to keep you centered in the experience of being in the here and now as the only place from which you can powerfully design the future. people who want to have more coaching in applying the principles and practices of radical honesty in their lives can get it. Radical Parenting: How to Raise Creators comes out. feel productive. A modification of this workshop called the Radical Parenting Workshop will be generated next year when my next book. accomplish a lot that you are proud of.successful projects in life with friends in a community and help them do the same. The commitment spreads out over a long period and is usually a lot of trouble and gets people in trouble they never predicted. and other excellent trainings about taking responsibility for your life. to be made into an ally. The time spent is mostly for you to organize your life. "The way to generate breakthroughs is to generate breakdowns. and have a community of friends you'll love the rest of your life who really know you and whom you can trust to tell you the truth. to pay for and attend all sessions. That enemy. in their ongoing real life. On the other hand. the point of it is not to add to your burden of work but to reduce it by realigning and reorganizing the way you live to waste less energy pretending and worrying. used by their minds. to be consistent with your vision of how you want your life to be and what you want it to be about. In other words. the mind. or do it on your own using this book and a group of friends. There is homework between sessions that takes some time and some ongoing coaching from the trainers using the Internet and telephone system. it is work. You can spend your energy with less strain because your whole life is doing what you want. be healthy and in love. play more. and you have to do most of it. These workshops and tutorials are conducted by people trained by me and are happening more and more frequently all over the country. The point is to work less. 3. 9.than manipulating is a candidate to be trained to conduct these workshop groups and tutorials and make at least a part of their livelihood from doing so. Get fed up with putting a damper on your life. directed and coached by other trainers and me. People who have completed a workshop once can repeat it for half price and come to Courses at a reduced rate on an ongoing basis. and email to keep in close touch with each other as we grow together in the power to make things happen in our lives. 2. Remain in an ongoing Practice Group. 8. conference calls. Several assistants co-lead the Courses in Forgiveness and Creating as well as some of the coaching sessions. Read Radical Honesty II: How to Complete the Past. conference call bridges. Do the tutorial program and the homework assigned and agreed to at the end of the Course in Honesty. The overall goals are that by the end of each participant's learning series: Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. the Course in Forgiveness and the Course in Creating. hot seat work. and although you cannot tell exactly the content of the training. Participate in the two advanced courses. Here is a brief sample of a Curriculum Outline. We are conducting all these groups to help organize an ongoing community of support for people in their local area. chat rooms. meeting every week or every couple of weeks in your local community during and after participation in the rest of the curriculum and stay in it on an ongoing basis thereafter. 6. People in these groups invite friends to take the workshop and join the community by participating in Radical Honesty Practice Groups. 5. you can get an idea of its direction. We will be using a combination of 800 numbers. Enroll in a Trainers' Intensive if you are interested in helping conduct the work and eventually making part or all of your living by running Radical Honesty Workshops. Each of these meetings has a core set of practices on an ongoing basis: group meditation at the beginning of every session. Enroll in and complete the Course in Honesty (eight days). Read Radical Honesty: How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth. Eventually. and parties exist on an ongoing basis for support of practices between sessions. some yoga or "Dance Yoga for the Insane. 7. Enroll in and complete the Introduction to Radical Honesty Workshop (two days). Create your life and contribute to other people until you die. chat room meetings.nr . We are becoming a movement. and work in pairs.co. Graduates become invited participants in already existing radical honesty communities. almost everything will be available in a curriculum that is partially tutored and coached on the Internet with face-to-face meetings for three days about every three months and then more coaching and tutoring and support by local community meetings. The Core Curriculum: Self-Reliance And Dreaming Up An Alternative Life 1.jagia-07146. Tutorials." group work. a web page. to found communities of support for radical honesty. Live in the Present and Build a Future with a Little Help from Your Friends 4. We will be conducting the two-day Introduction to Radical Honesty workshops repeatedly in cities all over the world and the eightday Course in Honesty in Virginia at the Center for Radical Honesty and occasionally at other central locations in the world. out of this.jagia-07146. Part three. which follows. It also describes a method of creating a new culture to live in. "Making it" in a culture is usually dependent upon making a good impression with others so that you are accepted. we expect to create miracles in the community of the world. and additional ongoing practices like yoga. I have declared the purpose of my life is to bring about the possibility of a lifetime of play and service for every human being on the planet. and maybe how to make a really honest community work for the first time on a large scale. You can use your mind to keep yourself from falling back into the neurotic survival skills of that very same mind by living into a vision and creating in the present from your vision of the future rather than from reaction to the past. you can transcend your mind and use it as a tool to Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. and •A community of supportive friends has been formed. Come play with us and we'll serve each other and see if.nr . I am regularly leading trainings in Virginia. I am really happy to be in this work and feel lucky to have the chance to work with such great people who teach me over and over again the value of sharing information about how life really is. and we at Radical Honesty Enterprises headquarters are coaching Practice Group leaders around the country. you can use your mind to do the work of this section. Honesty with others creates freedom from being embroiled in managing other people's impressions of you. or physical exercise with awareness. It is also something that takes a lot of energy. the reorganization of the world will occur. Once you have the courage to live completely out loud and have escaped the jail of your mind. martial arts. As we all learn together how to make a community of friends work again. the interpersonal meditation known as radical honesty. the energy you used to burn for that becomes newly available to create your life based on what you want.co. Part Three: Creating Your Own Destiny—The Workbook for Life Design Introduction to Part Three: The Workbook for Life Design This workbook section is about the real work of honesty and freedom.•Each person has brought something into being in their life that they can point to as their own creation that didn't exist four or five months before. Once you are capable of maintaining being grounded in your experience. The minimum fundamental requirements for grounding in your experience are regular solitary meditation. Deliverance from the suffering caused by being trapped in your mind begins by being grounded in your experience. one that transcends the culture in which you were raised. which is one of the main things that keeps you trapped in your own mind. A lot of people have joined me. When you quit managing impressions. shows in a step by step fashion how the reorganization of your life can contribute to the reorganization of the world so that the whole thing works better for all of us. We are taking on the problem of raising a generation of human beings the world over who are prepared to love and share with other human beings. jagia-07146. you will learn how work can come to be play and how to create with the added power of a community of support. A Programmatic Approach To Personal Growth "Evolution proceeds not through adaptation but through creativity. you're doing good work. or withholding anything. helping you to "source" resourcefulness. and we continually practice those practices. 12. these usually dysfunctional programs will come right to the surface and you will have the opportunity to see them in action. As Stephen Covey says in "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. This is a model to use to make your life an act of creation rather than a system of "survival in spite of" your early childhood training.nr . The big picture is the umbrella projects model. When you create something."a highly functioning human being operates from consciously chosen values and conscious design.co. We must create who we want to be. With the help that comes from communicating your intentions to others. The end result is to create a life through a way Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. or else it will recapture the space we have freed up. If you hit a spot that seems to be tough sledding. Keep after it. a tool to organize your life in a direction you choose. will immediately begin to reassert itself as the dominant control in your life. Find a friend who wants to do project writeups with you. you will run that program over and over again and still be mystified as to why the same results are happening over and over again.create your life in whatever ways you want to dream up. Like a computer with a circular program. The toughest part of learning radical honesty comes when you head out into the world to live it. you assert what you want without justifying. Ultimately you want to use your limiting rackets rather than be used by them. so go for it." — Marianne Williamson After we have transcended the old paradigm that limited who we consider ourselves to be. You come out from under your bushel basket and show yourself by asserting your preferences. rather than merely imitate what we have recently been. then go ahead and live into them and use them. and have found practices to ground us in the reality of our present experience. we also need to give our mind some work to do. Stay in conversation with other people. Freedom comes from refusing to hide. The journey of a thousand miles begins with thousands of steps. you two can support each other. This section guides you through the process of putting your preferences on paper and taking the first steps of asserting yourself to the world. This whole workbook section details a way to do that. editing. you experience freedom. so perfectly formed. and in the process of asserting yourself. In the following chapters covering The Workbook for Life Design curriculum. Your mind's unique survival strategy. In the process of creating based on clear communication about what you want to bring about in your life. that good obsessional behavior comes from detachment. •The intimacy that comes from honesty is more lively and adventurous than the attempt to maintain security by lying. Truthfulness sets you free. you can choose to be consciously dominated by beliefs you know are not real. just like Sisyphus transformed hell by choosing to do what he had been condemned to do.co. One to change the bulb. I have harnessed being obsessed with these beliefs through the surrender allowed by choosing. how does my obsession with these beliefs exemplify detachment? The attachment to those beliefs enough to list them shows that I am committed to these beliefs. •Truthfulness will set you free. I have come to believe these Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. That speaking is obsessional. I did this by choosing consciously to do what I have been condemned to do. Truthfulness about beliefs sets you free from unconscious domination by beliefs you have come to think are reality. Belief is the enemy of consciousness. "It's not the truth that will set you free. Then." I couldn't have said it better myself. One to not change the bulb. It is done by speaking and listening honestly and clearly as an advocate for an exciting vision you are committed to bringing into reality. That bald-headed guy who's always stealing my stuff. Now. in an interview) said. You surrender—by choice—to addiction. This is not done by controlling yourself and manipulating other people to live up to your expectations the way old-paradigm motivational speakers advocate. but true. •People who tell the truth about what they think and feel and do are able to work together more happily and more effectively than people who don't. I spend a great deal of my life's energy operating according to them and propagating them in the world. •Freedom is a psychological accomplishment. There is a way of speaking that only comes from excited detachment. Consciousness of addiction allows for a perspective that unconscious addiction does not. •The good life is a life of powerful creation with friends. it's truthfulness. One to neither change the bulb nor not change the bulb. It seems very strange to me. •Power to make a world that works for everyone comes from people who love each other and share common beliefs without too much attachment to those beliefs. Freedom is detachment from unconscious domination by the reactive mind and by belief.nr . Take. You Want to Get Obsessed and You Want to Stay Obsessed Do you know how many Buddhists it takes to change a light bulb? Three. once you are free of the illusion that beliefs are real. (Ken Wilbur. •People who are obsessed together with making a contribution to other people and each other. can do so in a totally committed and at the same time completely nonchalant way.of speaking and listening that makes things happen in the direction you planned. It is also detached. some of my beliefs: •Belief is the enemy of consciousness. We are all addicted to belief.jagia-07146. Based on many experiences of liberation. for example. nor are they to be worshipped. But let's be obsessed with a little detachment. given that we are all going to die Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. I know these are only beliefs I am obsessed with. another of the great minds of the 20th century. I think he learned it from Paul Tillich. what should we do to ensure bringing it about? Let's focus obsessively about how to do that for a while and then let's be obsessed with the doing of it. I am totally committed. they are just useful.co." Hearing that was a relief. "Well. Werner Erhard and his associates. we all have to die anyway. Some of the desperate sense of obligation to hurry up and do something to save the world disappeared. it is much more powerful. We may wipe ourselves out. He was the first man to tell me that it was possible to be totally committed and completely nonchalant at the same time. in the general movement to end nuclear proliferation. while at the same time being perfectly willing to have things turn out however fate dictates. allowed for so much more freedom from that point forward. about the possibility of what he called controlled abandon—that complete and dedicated and unswerving attention to being impeccable while at the same time surrendering completely.nr . a friend of mine. live and have my offspring and my offspring's offspring and the whole human experiment continue. Back when the atomic clock that showed how close we were to the midnight of final nuclear holocaust said it was now ten minutes to twelve. I remember clearly a particular moment of feeling much more capable. he said. That. too. But. has something to do with power. I guess it's not so bad if we all do it together. Carlos Casteneda had Don Juan tell me. What we could communicate then was something like this: "I would rather. I have learned by standing on the shoulders of these giants that not only is it possible. given that we prefer the former outcome. Joseph Wesley Mathews was a great Christian theologian who was in charge of the Christian Faith and Life Community on the campus of the University of Texas in the late 1950's and early 1960's.things and have chosen with great enthusiasm to pass them on. but at the same time utterly nonchalant about proving them or defending them or making them real or making them come true. in Journey to Ixtlan. and you probably do too. I spread that conversation all over the place. and I believe the whole conversation about the possibility of not ending the world through nuclear ignorance grew by leaps and bounds after that. He later became the head of the Ecumenical Institute of Chicago. That's okay. have stressed both impeccability and surrender. and so did others. as a preference. which became the research and development wing of the World Council of Churches. I am totally committed. I am nonchalant at the same time.jagia-07146. but that may not happen. said. in all the programs they designed and that have grown out of his original impetus. to be completely given over to creating with every ounce of strength and attention I can muster. They are not real or holy. They are not the only beliefs available or the one true set. Charles Erickson. The liberation of acknowledging that the possibility of the end of humankind was not necessarily something we had to run around trying hysterically to avoid. jagia-07146.anyway and it wouldn't be all that bad to do it together. But the raging fires had been quenched and the great iron cauldrons were quiet. The great Bodhisattva ceased then from his eons of heroic exertion. allows me to present them to other people as merely a recommended set of options that are somewhat counter to common knowledge but possibly more functional. It was done. I do not think that these beliefs are reality. and not reality. They are just beliefs. I think it is exactly the same as the situation we faced with nuclear proliferation during the Cold War. rather than being used by conventional beliefs in belief as reality. We become Serbian townspeople who don black masks and force their lifetime-neighbor Albanians out of their homes. Even the demons were gone Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Here and there a curling wisp of smoke still rose up. descending into and emptying hell after hell. we become Shiite Moslems or Baptists or fundamentalists of some kind looking for the chance to kill or die for our beliefs in an attempt to make them real. I do not think these beliefs are holy. and unsanitary fields. I am obsessed with teaching the world the possibility of choosing to have these beliefs be what uses them. And so through countless ages he labored. (Tales from India) The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara looked down into the many hells and saw they were filled with suffering beings. Now and then. I am obsessed with the possibility of teaching the world the wisdom of not making beliefs holy. when I confess beliefs as important but not real. Sweet silence flowed through the dark halls. faint echoes sounded as a loose brick shifted on a pile of rubble. until the unimaginable task was at last done." At the same time that I am now giving my days and nights and energy to accomplish the deliverance of all human beings from the jail of belief. Without the nonchalance that comes from knowing the difference between our beliefs and sensate reality.co. that the distinction between belief and reality—the detachment from the obligation to prove my beliefs are real—allows me to choose the beliefs that use me. or killing them without remorse. in some vast cavern far below. not reality. I am obsessed with teaching and learning through practice how to operate using these beliefs. He wiped the glistening diamonds of beaded sweat from his brow. The bomb is just a small-time instrument of destruction compared to the overall destructive power of attachment to beliefs in the old paradigm system of top-down management. "I will liberate all beings from the sufferings of the hells. We are still faced with extinction by a threat even greater than the bomb." he said. In fact. This story from India is quite a vision of controlled abandon through transcending futility. stripping them of their legal identities and abandoning them to shelterless. cold.nr . A great vow spontaneously arose in his heart. and. I believe. looking down into the empty hells. it doesn't really have to happen. I am obsessed with getting these beliefs about belief passed around in the world. smiled. I believe that knowing that my beliefs are beliefs. blood-filled cauldrons bubbled madly. and another. Hell is being lost in the mind. had been released. to save those in need.) What gives futilitarians so much energy is we don't need a particular result in order to be happy. then another. Rolling up his one thousand sleeves. His arms shattered into many arms. The curriculum that unifies all our programs is based on the image of personal evolution shown in Figure 2 in the following flashlight beam model. liberated to the heavens. That is what allows for detachment from belief. the great Bodhisattva settled down once more to the unending task. We are delivered from the jail of our minds into the heaven of experiential reality and then we reconvert that reality into the hell of the belief jail again. by the mighty efforts of the Compassionate One.nr . Our main overall vision is of a University for Living based on the model of personal growth from endarkenment to enlightenment for individuals and societies. beginning with believing our own invented stories about our lives and progressing to living in a community of non-believers who interrupt each others' minds for the benefit of each other's beings. We were going to have annual conventions like most groups. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. The radiant smile faded from the Bodhisattva's face. called Radical Honesty Enterprises. I am a futilitarian. I believe this is the best book I have ever written. We know there is no reason to be happy. clouds of smoke whirled. (Pun intended. what's the use? Having meetings is completely futile.co. It pictures how we all grow in our life together. The freedom that comes from the affirmation of futility is unbelievable.jagia-07146. Inc. Futilitarians believe that there is no use trying to give up belief because you simply can't. Once again the hells were entirely filled.for they too. I think it is best to do this with detachment. Suddenly. but when we got together to plan it." So we gave up. We are happy for no reason at all. The one thousand arms were enough to reach any realm. and that believing in anything is futile. I believe a good way to live is to get obsessed and stay obsessed. In less than an instant all was exactly as it had been before. and now have an annual unconvention instead. The one thousand heads looked in all directions to see the sufferings of every being. Flames leapt. It's a religion I invented. I am obsessed with the vision I am trying to articulate in this book and at the same time bring it into being in reality through a new corporation we have formed. his head split into many heads. I think it is a good thing. It is a vision of the growing on up of the whole interconnected world of humankind. But what was this? Suddenly. I am working on finishing this book now and I am obsessed with it. there came a wailing scream. The heart of the Bodhisattva filled with sorrow. I like being obsessed. "Ah. in the end. we thought. The Unending Task Hell continually recreates itself by making experiential reality into beliefs and then substituting those beliefs for reality. I believe in being obsessed. From Belief to Non-belief The New University In the old paradigm system. AND AND y o u e x p e r ie n c e c o n s is t e n t m e d ita t io n a n d fr e q u e n t. Table 1 From Illusion to Creation Name of Stage State of Mind. The new paradigm university is more focused on how to live than on how to make a living." These stages of growth in community are a universal model having to do with all developmental work. a s a n in d e p e n d e n t a n d in te r d e p e n d e n t b e in g .Y o u a r e liv in g a s t o r y n o t o f y o u r o w n c r e a tio n AND y o u b e li e v e y o u c a n “ fig u r e it o u t. Introduction to Radical Honesty (two-day workshop) Stage 2: Completion Meeting with people from the past to tell the truth about what was Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Distinguishing between noticing and thinking.co. The Learning Annex. h o n e s t s h a r in g . The Omega Institute. Belief that judgments are real. Y o u a r e liv in g i n a s t o r y n o t o f y o u r o w n m a k in g Y o u a r e in t e g r a t in g b o t h s to r ie s a n d p r o g r a m m in g r e li e f Y o u b e lo n g to a c o m m u n it y o f n o n . Our programs.b e lie v e r s BUT y o u a r e a ls o in v e n t in g a n e w s to r y a n d h a v e m o r e a c c u m u la t e d m e m o r ie s o f e x p e r ie n c e s th a t tra n s c e n d e d y o u r s to ry . The new university is directed toward the psychological accomplishment called freedom. This was not a bad idea and it still works to a limited extent when teachers who have the whole vision of that system's intent are in charge. are identified in the far right column. Table 1 lays out stages of development from "The Illusion of Control" to "A Life of Loving and Creating. y o u p a r t ic ip a t e in a c o m m u n ity o f f r ie n d s w h o in t e r r u p t e a c h o th e r. judging and keeping up. AND N o w a n d th e n . This model of the new university for living is what the Center for Radical Honesty programs support. an undergraduate education consisted of an attempt to give adolescents a balanced overview of the humanities. ” Y o u a r e liv in g in a s t o r y n o t o f y o u r o w n c r e a tio n .nr . a n d y o u k n o w it . science. Y o u n o t ic e a n d r e m e m b e r t h e s e e x p e r ie n c e s . Figure 2.jagia-07146. State of Being Training Content Radical Honesty Program Stage 1: The Illusion of Control Keeping up and judging. and many other growth centers operate more consistently within this model than within the older model. Personal growth as an ongoing lifestyle does have stages that can be delineated and supported with information and processes that further the action. which are designed to help with the transitions. Esalen Institute. Rowe Conference Center. y o u h a v e e x p e r ie n c e s o f b e in g o u t s id e y o u r b e lie fs . and liberal arts and then an area of focus or "major" to specialize in. Explicit teaching about the illusion of control. The general direction was to be able to make a living by doing what you were interested in after a sufficient review of the possibilities. The Course in Honesty To bring alive what is outlined in the chart. Then the entire group meets from 10:00 to 2:00 with occasional 15-minute breaks. articulating the noticing Sharing what you notice with others becomes the foundation of intimacy. If that was all that occurred. We do this because yoga and meditation and exercise put you in touch with experiential reality. focusing on ending the anxiety-based life. lectures. Course in Forgiveness Stage 4: Mindfulness and Intimacy Developing skills in meditation. but generally includes Gestalt hot seat work.withheld. The content of the meetings varies. Course in Honesty (eightday workshop) and homework Stage 3: Paradigm of the Relativity of Paradigms Living more out loud. noticing. paired exercises. Kleenex™ model for paradigms: use one and throw it away. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Becoming identified with being. meditate together until 8:50. directed conversations. The agenda for each day goes something like this: we all start with yoga from 7:30 to 8:30. and mindfulness. group process work. Shared projects and mutual coaching. the course would be powerful because the power of that alone is incredible. Breakfast is available from 9:00 to 10:00 and there is time for a shower. getting over anger. life story telling. One of the most important agreements is that they will tell the truth to each other completely for the next eight days.jagia-07146.co.nr . then run a couple of miles or do alternative aerobic activity for 20 minutes or so. All the cumulative courses and Trainer's Trainings Stage 6: A Life of Loving and Creating Ongoing responding to and co-creating with others Project creation and project management with love and without attachment to results. forgiveness Life is just sensational training. and other training geared toward the distinction between noticing and thinking for all participants. and there were no other agenda whatsoever. Gestalt hot seat work. and progress toward compassionate participation in community. Sixteen people get together on a Saturday morning and make some agreements about what they will do together for the next eight days. Trainers' Trainings and Coaching This chart summarizes the stages of personal growth and the assistance offered to birth each stage. We start from the isolation we all learn in adolescence (when we have completed substituting belief for reality and are living almost exclusively in our minds). Course in Creating Stage 5: Groundless Being and That's Okay Responsible individuality and individual responsibility Change of primary identity from performer-noticer to noticerperformer. awareness exercises. small group exercises. Homework in the real world. and to make it useful to you whether you ever do any of our courses or not. modeling detachment. I will describe what happens during the Course in Honesty. Generally they are stories of people who were able to remain sane while the society around them was crazy. and receives feedback. Again. The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain. What happens. Each person spends an hour telling the whole story of their life. and so on. people get to know each other pretty well. until we who are listening and watching (and also naked) feel they are no longer embarrassed. sisters.jagia-07146.nr . Before this workshop is over. write in a journal. They can also take a nap. and so on. Bagdad Cafe. As you can imagine. So far. Each person sits next to the video screen when their image appears. Then they tell their sexual history—when they first found out that they were a sexual being.co. when they first masturbated. lovers. is the same every time. Ikiru or other films selected on the basis of representing what I call abnormal mental health. From 5:00 to 8:00 we meet again. observes their segment of tape. which is videotaped. how many people of each gender they have had sex with. brothers. At 8:00 we break for supper. and receives their videotape to use later to start conversations with parents. whether they like doing it with men or women or vegetables. we review the videotapes together. My Dinner with André. animals. about the fifth day of the workshop. Little Big Man. From 9:00 to 11:00 we hear two life stories. interact with others. They often are embarrassed.Lunch is at 2:00 followed by a break until 5:00. as they have agreed to do. Mostly it is about embarrassment and shame and suffering more than pleasure. Each participant stands naked in front of us. while talking about their sex lives is a more confrontational process for some people than the original experience of standing naked before the group. Also. tells their own. and about how avoidance of all those aspects often controls our lives. ex spouses. Everyone falls in Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. The Karate Kid. often watching feature length movies like Secrets and Lies. We do our second meditation individually during that break. One person at a time stands up in front of a mirror and talks about what they like and don't like about their body. A timekeeper prompts the storyteller every fifteen minutes and a little time is left at the end for people to ask questions to get the honest details. but with good coaching and persistence and complete sharing of the truth they get over it. This is also videotaped. by the fifth or sixth day. naked. recounting these details while being videotaped. The next day. and friends with whom they have unfinished business in life. the willingness to face the experience and live through it provides a decrease in the intensity of the sensations related to shame and a change in perspective on their own life in the direction of compassion for themselves as well as others. and it happens over and over again with very diverse groups of people. The process of watching themselves on television. everyone gets naked in the hot tub room. every participant hears everyone else's life story. it has never been very sexy at all. during which time participants meditate for the second time each day. or minerals. their best and worst sexual experiences. Everyone always thinks this will be a sexy experience. read assigned material. we have to do it without holding on too tight. It is designed to assure continual renewal rather than sentimentalizing precious memories. That curriculum involves the continuous completion of unfinished business from the past and keeping up with honesty day to day. Our reunion groups. Good for you! You're just like me. but a bridge to who we most deeply are. They have a curriculum intended to support participants in continuing the practices that enabled their original authentic contact.co. Here is where the mind makes its first attempt to take control and make assessments and judgments and determine how to hold on to something. isn't that a hell of a thing? Imagine all that time wasted putting on airs. Here is the critical point. You have a lot of courage. are called the Course in Forgiveness and the Course in Creation. As Marianne Williamson so eloquently says in Healing the Soul of America. That is what a mind is for. The curriculum for the continuation of the work beyond this point requires a built-in method for correcting itself or it will surely go awry. I had no idea we were so much alike.nr . just a few days later. Ongoing Community Whether the ongoing connection between people to interrupt each others' minds and create together happens within the context of our particular training program or in someone else's program is not important. the question arises. The bridge to a better future is a shift in mass consciousness. near tears when they blow the shofar on Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. which meet three months and six months after the end of the Course in Honesty. Making obligations out of past joys is the kind of thing any mind knows how to do and will do at the drop of a hat. The very people who were categorized as jerks the first day are the same people who. Making dead memories more important that the living present is one of the functions of a mind.jagia-07146. Aren't we funny? Aren't we pathetic? Isn't life strange? I just love you to pieces!" When people really get to know each other. If we are going to remain enlightened and alive. If we try too hard to preserve something like this.love with everyone else. It is neither a bridge to the past nor a bridge to the future. when all we needed to do was drop the act and tell the truth! Because everyone very much likes being in love. It also involves consciously designing and creating with friends.…who we are when we are hushed in church. they fall in love with each other. in hopes that someone would love us for our act. What is important is that a certain evolution of consciousness is occurring and we experience a certain joining together of people who have come to understand and connect with each other at a deeper level. we kill it. in detail. have their greatest enemy and most severe judge put an arm around them and say something like: "Bless your heart! You've come through some really hard times. to a part of ourselves we have tended to keep out of the public realm. even though afraid of it because of the unfamiliarity and vulnerability. Now. "This renaissance will come from neither the Left nor the Right. "What can we do to sustain this feeling of connectedness?" Here lies a place of great danger. That is what makes the mind such a killjoy. Confronting The Past To Get Complete And Have Energy To Create Yom Kippur. I appreciate you for sharing with me ideas that have fueled a rocket-like takeoff in my life. and so on). Students now come for three individual lessons and two group lessons per month. or seemingly even valued at all by the social order we have created around us. I suggest a systematic methodology for this and have many examples of people who have done it before. brothers and sisters. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. The universe provided again. this email I received recently. Take.jagia-07146. creative visualization.nr . Go wake up all the sleeping dogs and don't let them lie anymore. improvisation. as well as plausible backups in case this relationship blows up. ex-spouses. These chapters can be used to create a life among friends whether you do workshops or trainings with us or not. maintained. and I'm getting well-paid in the process. and if you want some coaching give us a call. You have to go talk seriously with your parents. Brad. We're thinking of writing a book called 1001 Platonic Dates. My goal was to be friends with Arnold. My kids have never been as together as they are now. The first step to creating your own destiny is to complete some of your major incompletions from the past. The classes are fun to plan and conduct. Dear Ralph. Please feel free to join us or try this on your own.13. and it works out so I have one week per month free from work. We succeeded big time. My first project was making my business (Teaching Violin) be the way I want it to be. I redesigned my group violin classes to reflect what I care about—adding body awareness (yoga. are best friends. and still living together. Enclosed is one of the letters I wrote him in response to him sharing fears about his history of promising more than he can deliver in relationships and hurting people as a result. I imagine you will notice your influence.co. with a guy who is blowing me away with new sexual experiences. music history. honest and vulnerable with our therapist. old flames. for example. Here's a summary of what's been happening for me since the last Reunion Group meeting. We are divorced as of December. and lots else. My next project was finding lover(s). You may make a bunch of mistakes and learn many valuable things. and lost friends and any other previously unresolved separations. and to provide a stable home for our kids. Next I took on getting divorced. It is the part of us least acknowledged." The next several chapters go into detail about one way of using a mind in organizing a life so it has better odds of staying in love and out of the jail of categories and reactions. Feldenkreis. I invite you to speak your truth with me. soaring on the winds. I am unlikely to try to saddle you with blame. Where would such an idea come from? Probably not from anything you've done or said. I imagine it might have something to do with the fact that my mom doesn't do process very well. To use Harville Hendrix's paradigm. All I can Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. I used to keep my thoughts private. despite my more intense feelings. Statistically speaking. That's new for me. I've come into my own with my mother as a result of my struggle with Arnold. They are both card-carrying members of the thought police if you let them be. so I stuffed my concerns and reflections. Of course. you're the lucky one to help me with this project. I've never been rejected by a lover. Second. having no idea about who I am or what I want now that I'm free of marriage. and may need to be broken again in order to be reset better than ever as a healing grown-up. observing the world and speaking my truth. As a strong match for my dad's imago. This year I'm an eagle. I notice as I write to you that I'm feeling insecure about you finding my thoughts tedious. For example. I say all this as I chart unfamiliar territory. First of all. we will be friends again. So again.nr . Experiencing life with my baggage detector switched on helps me find it. I can go ahead and write and send despite my insecurity.jagia-07146. even if that means breaking my heart if your positive feelings for me ebb away. I say that because I am more in transition. it's not my style. be yourself. I chose to let you into my heart knowing full well your history with women.co. Now it's time for me to come into my own with respect to my dad. my old tendency to withdraw when I get scared by love. And this isn't even considering the baggage factor. Being aware of that baggage. I look back on that as an act of integrity and kindness. and I'm collecting varied life experiences. though I felt guilty at the time I rejected Arnold as a lover. or something else? What's the rhythm of my sexual desire outside of that decades-long relationship? What sort of people am I most attracted to? I'm an adolescent in an adult body running loose in the world. But at least I'll know that much more about life. waiting for you to cry uncle if you choose. to share your unfiltered feelings day-by-day. I may be more likely to leave you than be left. He's grown enormously through the process of dealing with his broken heart. I am not an innocent victim. The only acceptable utterances in my childhood home seemed to me to be cheerful ones.One of my goals for 1999 is to find and discard old mental baggage. My guess is that beyond the hurt feelings. my heart was broken by my father's rejection. Third. to Arnold's chagrin. Am I polyamorous or monogamous. I am not used to allowing myself feelings of deep caring for men. It may hurt so much when we separate that I choose not to do this "in-love-with" routine to myself again. promise is to behave as gently as my skills allow me as I try to live a life true to myself. and your children over twelve years of age. to talk about how we want to handle death. lifechanging. be as compassionate as you can without compromising your integrity. If you persist. If you can't come to a Course in Honesty. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. give these a try in a Radical Honesty Practice Group you organize yourself: Exercise 1." Love. Georgia Brad. consciousness-altering. In the discussions that follow. About ninety percent of the time.co. money. tell the truth about your resentments and appreciations of all the people who watch your tape and tell them you intend to forgive them whether they agree that they are guilty or not. I'm organizing a three-day reunion in April for the women in my extended family. you are complete. taking-it-all-onand-running-with-it life changes? I have heard lots of these stories from graduates of Radical Honesty workshops. I'm quite through with living a life governed by "shoulds. Videotape telling the whole story of your life to a group of friends. and other big topics. My next project is getting closer to my family of origin. It doesn't work all the time to renew all relationships. If it takes more than one meeting. sisters. Sometimes I wonder if I'm going to get arrested fully clothed. beginning an honest discussion works to entirely renew the relationship. If it doesn't renew the relationship with some of the people involved. freedom making. thanks. and hold the intention to forgive them before you quit the conversation. go back. spouses. and on Saturday I'm going out to California. I've got a date lined up with my dad tonight. this kind of communication helps to create a nuclear reaction in my body. So again.jagia-07146. I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks. brothers. Focus on how you feel in your body to be able to tell whether you are complete. When you are tense and paranoid you are not through yet. to spend a week with my sister. Exercise 2.nr . aunt. Show the tape to your parents. we have developed a series of exercises that lead to more freedom. there is so much life force coursing though me. Answer all questions honestly and get it all on tape. best friends. Not everyone in the world is up to forgiveness and completion. Open up and tell it like it is for you. and mother. When you feel relaxed with energy and you are not avoiding eye contact or dreading what might happen next. In the workshops. family feuds. it can still work for you personally. If they don't get over your resenting them or hurting their feelings. Georgia Completion Leads to Creation Isn't it just wonderful how casually Georgia reports outstanding. Do this in about an hour or and hour and a half. risk-taking. If not. they may come around. including my cousins. Planning The Future So You Remain Called Forth From Your Mind you've lost an aquaintance who didn't have the courage to be a friend. Defenders of belief in the institutions of religion. Once that occurs. government. and what you feel from the past.jagia-07146. If you are unwilling to risk their possible alienation by telling what you remember doing and having had done to you. breakthroughs from mind to being must constantly recur. It's creators who have the good life. and business are the enemies of liveliness. then insights that help for a while. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.co. the human world loses its aliveness and after that its life.nr . For the quality of your life to be good. you maintain constraints to being a creator in your future. Go back again. That is why we know better than to trust nostalgic love stories. Once your mind has reconstructed its memory of a liberating insight. The good news is. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. It's artists who win. Artists are on top of life. whether they want to or not. This means you have to plan a lot and revise plans a lot. once you have faced the unfinished business. you can begin planning and designing a new future with new power and freedom. Institutionally defensive people hold tightly to belief out of fear. while keeping the vision of the end result of your creation continually calling you forth. powerful creation is severely inhibited. If creators do not constantly reclaim their own governance from the fearful controllers. A memory of love is not love. Go back and tell the truth. until you complete unfinished issues. The courage to tell the truth and live out loud and tell the truth about events and feelings and judgments from the past is critically important to becoming a creator of your life in the future. People who are more concerned about belief than experience tend to dominate and control institutions. the breakthrough is used up. If you are willing to bring up important unfinished business with important people from your past. Breakthroughs in learning that liberate you from your mind are initially experiences that bring insights. Love either recurs or it ends. Having the power to create your life the way you want it with the help of others and then be able to enjoy what you have done with them depends on your courage to complete the past. The artfully lived life is consciously designed in an ongoing process where discovery through sharing is as important or more important than original intent. it is mostly no longer liberating. they will almost always end up admiring you for it. As we say in our commercial for Radical Honesty. The mind makes things stale fairly quickly. maybe one of the world's few honest commercials: "Radical Honesty! It works pretty good!…Most of the time!" Completion of unfinished business from the past creates the space for a new beginning. The judging mind of each individual is parallel to—and representative of—the institutions of belief. what you think. The bad news is.14. Creators have the courage to be. and then they become yesterday's reconstructed memories. Go back until you are finished with your story or finished with the person or both. we think (in the back of our minds). We'll be happy and taken care of and it won't take anything but believing and waiting on our part. "Would you like to give up the suffering and the satisfactions involved in being neurotic.jagia-07146.nr . Maybe if we're lucky. plan the future." When we finally get to the place where they understand how much commitment. Use them to create a life you want. being trapped in the indulgence of being a victim?" almost everyone says. plan the future. It is engaging. clear the past. Creators enjoy consciously going about the work of designing and bringing into being their vision of whatever they want to create. we need to take on the process of continual re-creation as a lifelong. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. and continue. God or the lottery or some sugar daddy or mama or a rich uncle or an inheritance or some good luck or some wise person or teaching will finally make it all okay. and doing what you want to do. or getting an A for effort. somebody will take care of us the way we always should have been taken care of. This means the work of planning and doing. being on top of life requires taking responsibility for how it goes. how you want to live. Believers have explanations for what went wrong and hope for salvation just ahead. some people back off and return to their old ways. clear the past. depression. Because of what I do for a living—psychotherapy and running workshops about deliverance from the unconscious control of the reactive mind and the illusion of control by the reflective mind—I have had hundreds of opportunities to witness retreat in the face of the real work of creation. in spite of how hard we wish for deliverance. It is more fun than worrying about being right or not being wrong. This means making plans and writing them down and systematically projecting into the future with our imaginations. Then we do some of the work of the plans and dispense with them like Kleenex™ tissues. It is not performing for an audience. "Yes.co.Because the mind makes things stale fairly quickly. Being on top of life seems to be the opposite of being overwhelmed by life. intentionality. It isn't hoping. It is work. permanent task. rewrite and dispense with them. or doing the best we can. These states of mind are very familiar to us and therefore very precious. Attachment to plans can be as much of a restraint to freedom as attachment to ideals from the past. or whatever we learned was important about putting on a good show in school. which is the usual reliable source of anger. and anxiety. concentrated. act. etc. involving. and we won't actually have to take care of ourselves. It requires giving up hope. When I ask people. and work is required. Eventually your life gets a certain rhythm to it: clear the past. plan the future. It doesn't mean trying. The way to transcend your limitations is to use them rather than trying to fix them or change them. Many of us are caught in a kind of despair created by hoping for the best. Unfortunately. sometimes hard. where you live. sometimes exciting. The tendency is strong in all of us to fall back into that "feeling imposed upon" way of being. meditative. But it is fun. act. act. We like to be lost in a vague hope that someone is going to rescue us from responsibility for our lives. the way Mom or Dad never did. We preserve them through trying to fix them. more than anything else persistent work. Another. and many more. and be honest simultaneously with yourself and others. The scars are not going to go Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. life is mostly a game of luck as well. Without doing the work it takes to be on top of life. There are a number of other practices that bring more luck as well. you have to play and practice constantly. developed from what happened to you in life and how you survived and adapted to outrageous fate. If you practice planning you have more luck. keep yourself well-equipped and well-informed of recent advances. You need to know yourself well. In life you have to play and practice constantly. keep yourself well-equipped and wellinformed of recent advances in technology and equipment. telling the truth. Conscious artistry in the creation of the good life for any individual requires constant centering. Another. and it often helps to make a cooperative agreement to compete and develop your skills under pressure. Another. help you have more luck in life. Planning is the practice that allows you to practice the other practices. the results one wants. and most especially. laughing a lot.nr . Another. having meaningful work. creating your environment so it calls you forth. when they grow naturally out of the compassion that comes from paying attention. Your personality. Planning is one of the forms of practice that helps you have more luck in life. constant planning. physical exercise. also helps. Really good planning takes into account how you can use the skills you have to bring your plans into reality. contributing to and loving children. and constant sharing of what you are about in the world." I say. is absolutely necessary to increase the odds of having more luck in life. Having a coach. Your neuroses are to be used to construct a better life for you and yours. I have finally learned that taking responsibility for using my past neurotic survival schemes rather than trying to fix them works better than trying to fix them.Having someone or something else to blame for how life has been and how it goes is just too sweet—and it requires less work and less risk. but I find if I practice a lot I have more of it. and using the recently developed technology you can learn by reading this book or attending our workshops. and doing the plans. get coached continually. Planning is the beginning of making things happen according to my vision. Another. using the equipment I have evolved in the course of defending my image when I thought that image was me. Another one is yoga. is the equipment you use to create with. music. Practices that Lead to More Luck To stay in good form in all sports. to make things happen effectively in alignment with your vision and according to your plan. All of these practices. contributing to and loving other people. Another. completing what you start. Nobody and no thing is going to make up for how we got treated as children. Another. the periods of not guiltiness. meditation. The odds are we can't be fixed. keeping your word. Another. Another. but the practice of planning. you win more. Another. Lee Trevino says.co. you increase the odds in your favor.jagia-07146. and play competitively to develop your skill under pressure. the time off. Another. one doesn't get as many of the breaks. "Golf is mostly a game of luck. my carried-around-with-me-at-all-times way of getting along feeling protected and surviving. criticizing it. We are all condemned to engage in completely futile tasks that require all we've got. My youngest brother was born when I was nine. I had the dumb luck of my father dying when I was six years old. alert. we must be able to imagine a way Sisyphus could come to be a happy man in that hell. who used to be a hero like Hercules when he was on Earth. We catch a glimpse of him just as he turns to walk back down that mountain to find his rock and push it up again. I am designed by my life to be a helper who wants to keep those already hurt from being hurt more. co-dependent. homemade. such that a vague sense of obligation binds them to me.jagia-07146. Because of this dumb luck.co. much like the mythical hero Sisyphus. lying survivor. individual humanoid. My brother was four. so I could keep them from killing each other or hurting one of the kids. We can use what we have learned by adapting to the past as a tool to create the future. If we are to discover the secret to happiness as human beings. home-built set of neurotic survival techniques. My mother remarried when I was seven to an alcoholic wife beater and child abuser. I have here a hand-built. said Camus. protects me from them. or trying to "fix" it. and gets me praise. I developed skills for dealing with my life circumstances. which required me to take care of my younger brothers because my mother and stepfather were usually too drunk to do so. and he conquered hell by transforming his relationship to what he was condemned to do by Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. I considered myself a smart kid and a hero and I couldn't afford to admit to being scared and sorry for myself. and I purchase allegiance by helping others. and turn out the way I thought they should. I ended up wanting to help people. I can decide to serve people of my own free will. was thrown into this hell forever just as we. I learned to be wary. for all eternity. How could that be? Sisyphus was condemned to the hell of rolling that rock up and having it fall back down. I was raised in such a way that I became sensitized to subtle cues about human behavior. who were once happy as children. I resented people if they didn't appreciate me a lot. Sisyphus. and quick to respond to cues to predict mood and likely behavior changes in alcoholics. and we see a beaming smile on his face.nr . have been thrown into the hell of the meaningless meaning-making machine of the mind and the obligations of adult life. and resisting it. I charge this allegiance to the helpee in an inexplicit way. My Life Themes and Skills: From Stumbling Blocks to Stepping Stones When I was a child.away. and I wanted to try to help people who were hurting. I am a manipulative. do what I said. and show off my perceptiveness. As a psychologically reactive. By transforming my relationship to this fine system of survival instead of being victimized by it. Albert Camus wrote that Sisyphus' condition of being condemned to roll a big boulder up a mountain and have it roll back down again for all eternity was a perfect analogy for the human condition. teach them how to take care of themselves. take care of them. as his punishment. This is what I do and I'm doin' it. and culture I was born into and formed by was not under my control. Brad Blanton. as a side Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. I get to use my personality to bring about my dreams for the future. which I am condemned to live with. The way I was built to go about serving people was as an oppressed but surviving secret hero. it is what I do. As a being. To summarize: I learned to survive by taking care of some people and being wary. I already have what I want. or focus on. a staunch defender of the helpless—kind of a cross between the Lone Ranger and Jesus.nr . some healing of the wounds of the past does occur. using my developed skills in surviving to bring about the results I plan to bring about.co. can choose to serve people as a design for my life simply because it is a good choice given my design. By giving up the demand that other people make up for how I was deprived.choosing to do it. I am good at it.jagia-07146. I can transform my life by my own design. I can choose to use that model to create a life with. I roll my rock up my mountain and back down again. and my history to be something my present-tense self possesses. Sisyphus decided to choose to do what he was condemned to do. Still. I don't have to have people pay me for serving them to compensate for what I lack. Or. I can choose to serve people. Rather than continue to function from and react to the past that designed how I should live at about age seven or eight or nine. I. serving people can be a choice for me and can be very fulfilling and fun if I go about it in a certain way. we will automatically fall back into being controlled again by mind-made reactions and moralism based on formative experiences. this is my job. and defending against other people. I can design any project. Unless we create some star to hitch our wagon to. This is true of everybody. I can have that paradigm use me and be a victim of my psychological conditioning. or change myself. satisfied in the present. I do get fixed. I will always operate from that mode. By using the equipment I now luckily have available to me. as a secondary effect of transformation. We will become merely neurotic again just like we were before we last escaped the jail of the mind and freed ourselves from the relentless taboos and controls of our unconsciously-built minds. My life is transformed by my choice to serve people because the purpose of my service is no longer to manipulate and control them to get what I want. If I consider myself to be this being in the moment who is typing now. So it turns out. this is what I do for a living. to design a future to live from. That is. times. I can simply use myself to create a life I want. This choice to do what one is condemned to do is called transformation. the meaning made for me without any choice on my part from the life. and do the work of planning and the work of the plans. acknowledged by few. paranoid. He said. family. I can escape the oppression of the historical personality that drives me even though I cannot escape the personality itself. in the present. by choosing to do what I have been condemned to do. What is under my control is the use of that personality. We are all like this. and I have no choice in the matter. Instead of trying to fix myself. I can use my memory. Then tell your partner what Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Tell them how you survived the circumstances of your family. and to have your projects talked about by other people when you are not present. glorious vision statements. Live from your vision of the future rather than the conditioning of your past. if you are willing. being of unsound mind. The good life is shared problems. Friends to whom you tell your life story can help. Solving big problems together is the best game on earth. help is on the way from inside you and outside you.jagia-07146. Write up your life themes and skills as I have just done using the model provided for you in the upcoming section of the book.effect. The usual language of evaluation and assessment is a different language than the language of declaration. I DO DECLARE: MY LIFE IS TO SERVE PEOPLE. It is caused my speaking as a conscious. it is a different kind of speaking than normal speaking. other people will be inspired as well. Come up with something new that is worth doing with your life. Come up with bodacious. then make your project vision statements. and using that to create a future. Here is the task: use the survival skills you learned by being abused in a dysfunctional family to create projects and solve problems of your own design. both good and bad. So. Exercises Pair up with someone and take a half hour each to talk about your life. If playing with problems is substituted for whining and complaining. My life is to serve people because I say so. but use the conditioning from your past to bring your vision into being. I do this now because I say so.co. So. as is herein amply demonstrated. your friends. Select from your own life story the major themes. Make sure the vision statements or background commitment statements for all your projects are consistent with the life purpose statement you will compose by answering the trick questions in the Life Purpose Statement chapter. That declaration is my declaration of independence. You can proclaim what your life is about and use all the skills and faults you've developed in the past to make it happen. to be remembered and talked about. It is not caused by the conditions of my past or my adaptations to them. After answering the questions there and composing your life themes choices list. I invite you to try talking this way and see what happens to you. Write to have an impact. to make an impression. Tell your partner what your main survival skills and adaptations were. The adventure of creating what you want in life from skills you already have is the best game in town. intentional being. or some way of doing what you already do that inspires you so much you can't wait to jump out of bed in the morning. If you are inspired by your own vision of the future. let's get to work! The first step is to make your declaration of what your life is to be used for. and to enroll other people in your project. When I speak this as a declaration of intent for how I am choosing to live.nr . This will immediately give you a number of problems you didn't have before you made the declaration. Write to inspire yourself. These are the instruments for creating the future you envision. I will give you an intellectual understanding of the practices rather than an experience of learning them in the real world and in your body.your main vision is for the rest of your life and how you intend to use the skills you learned from surviving to use as instruments for creating the future you envision. •Sometimes I Pretend—an honest sharing of pretenses done in a group context. They are absolutely essential to the ongoing life of a creator. you must practice. What we teach in our workshops includes: •Instruction in a blend of meditation and self-hypnosis. meditating. This chapter brings up a dilemma that confronts every writer and teacher. and Distorted Listening. take a break and write down what you remember from the conversation under these two headings: survival skills and future vision. get back with your partner and compare notes and make revisions of both lists and talk a little more about the creative usefulness of what. Keep the revised list to be used in a later assignment in this book. and planning for the future) is necessary to keep the mind from recapturing the space of freedom. you must then engage in practices that repeatedly restore your experience of yourself as the being-in-the-body-who-simply-notices. If I catalog and explain many of the practices that can help to ground you in the present moment. and •Radical Honesty exercises: I Observe and I Imagine. meditation. you have considered to be your most negative characteristics. Continual practice in noticing is as necessary as continual practice in sports or music. After both of you have done this. and you envision a future you want to create. •A movement and stretching technique we invented to restore sanity called Dance Yoga for the Insane—a body-awareness-dictated free-form movement and stretching.jagia-07146. Once we gain a perspective on our own mind and have the possibility of using the mind rather than being used by it. Thinking. you can take a Radical Honesty workshop or we will help you connect with someone in your area who can teach you yoga. or other paths to assist you in noticing and becoming present to present tense experience. You need to learn these practices experientially from people who can teach them because they have learned them experientially and have practiced them for some time. body awareness practices.nr . particularly. even when you know the basics. Then discuss the usefulness of your most valuable skills. After about fifteen minutes. If you call us. On Continuously Being Centered In The Present And Using The Mind To Transcend The Mind After you have begun to complete your past in preparation for the act of creating your future. an ongoing set of practices (including continuing to tell the truth. Noticing vs.co. 15. and you begin to plan. to stay sharp. Continual practices like these help you re-identify yourself as a present tense experiencer and rescue you from being overwhelmed by your mind. martial arts. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. The mind takes formerly transcendent perspectives and turns them into ideals that life has to live up to. You can change your life purpose or your vision statements for your projects anytime. You are the creator of your life. work opportunities. of course. Do not skip ahead. We just need a life purpose statement to start with. We can create. Rather than being used by our minds' defensive reactions to things in the present that vaguely remind us of our past. Yesterday's brilliant.jagia-07146. and then comes the social coordination. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. work that seems like play because it is based on the future we envision and want to bring into being. 16. career. Do these steps one at a time. While we do this series of activities to design the future. so you can modify." —Joseph Campbell (in conversation with Michael Toms) In the next several chapters you will learn to create and manage projects to achieve your vision of the future. This is the alternative to the reactive life. and so on. We can use our minds to transcend our minds by remembering to direct our attention to the constant practice of noticing. called a life design. in the present. You can change it anytime. This chapter has some fill-in-the-blank pages.The mind takes experience and turns it into concepts. leaving us once again complaining about life not living up to our expectations. First you have to come up with a purpose for your life so you can measure all your vision statements for your projects and opportunities that come up in life against something you have chosen. or destroy the life purpose statement whenever you choose. but first you have to come up with a purpose for your life.nr . We are the beings who pay attention. Pull out your pencils and put on your Being Cap. the reader/creator will have chosen a direction of focus for her life that is a self-determined measuring stick to judge the "fit" of relationships.co. liberating insight becomes tomorrow's bullshit. there is the problem of coordinating your well being with the goods and needs of the society. On completion. this is not serious. Now you will get a chance to make your own projects and your own umbrella project to manage them with. erase. paint over. modified slightly to fit our purposes. and to our vision of the future. You are the creator of your universe. rather than just reacting. recreational endeavors. What we create through planning is our plaything. It is important to do things in sequence this way so your mind doesn't get in your way. we use our minds to envision and create a future from the present. Then. Let's begin with an exercise created by Phil Laut and presented in his book Money is my Friend. Just complete one exercise and then go on. pay attention to paying attention. Don't worry. The Life Purpose Statement "So the meaning of the Grail and of most myths is finding the dynamic source in your life so that its trajectory is out of your own center and not something put on you by society. But first you must find your trajectory. When we carry out the design we are playing with our lives. 1_________________ 2_________________ 3_________________ 4_________________ 5_________________ 6_________________ 7_________________ 8_________________ 9_________________ 10_________________ 11_________________ 12_________________ 13_________________ 14_________________ 15_________________ If you didn't put fifteen down. whatever. If you don't know fifteen. Exercise 2 How you enjoy expressing your characteristics in concrete action in the real world. driven. if one of your characteristics was generosity. or taking the children on an outing.nr . pottery making. Referring loosely to the five favorite personality characteristics you just circled.co. Have some fun. You may be intelligent. make a list of fifteen actual behaviors that are ways you enjoy expressing these characteristics. For example. weird. humorous. 1.Now circle your five favorite personality characteristics. Do it quickly—don't think too much.Exercise 1 Characteristics 1. Make sure you have fifteen. a behavior you actually perform in the real world that exemplifies generosity could be "feeding the homeless by working in a soup kitchen on Sunday mornings. 1__________________________________________________________ 2__________________________________________________________ 3__________________________________________________________ 4__________________________________________________________ 5__________________________________________________________ 6__________________________________________________________ 7__________________________________________________________ 8__________________________________________________________ 9__________________________________________________________ 11_________________________________________________________ 12_________________________________________________________ Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. make them up. cooking. get back up there and finish! 2.jagia-07146. researching. slovenly. joyful." Other specific behavior examples could be writing.List below fifteen characteristics of your Self. walking. and move on to Exercise 2. You may have previously considered some of them to be negative. but you can transform them in developing your life purpose. After you edit and/or revise it (if you want). ______________________. carry a few extras so they can keep one if they like.13_________________________________________________________ 14_________________________________________________________ 15_________________________________________________________ 2. type and print it. whip that puppy out and hand it to them.co. Exercise 4 Your Life Purpose Now you are going to cut and paste your life purpose together. ______________________ . ______________________. and not before. It's easy and fun. Write this vision in the present tense and in terms of how you want it to be rather than how you want it not to be. and ______________________ by (list the five specific behaviors) ______________________ . ______________________. and ______________________ to bring about a world in which (write in your ideal world statement) _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ Congratulations! You have a good draft of a life purpose statement of your own. or copy it neatly. move on to Exercise 4. Exercise 3 The World You Want Write a brief statement (twenty-five words or so) of your vision of an ideal world. In fact. Begin your statement this way: "An ideal world is one in which… When you finish the statement. After you have completed a list of at least fifteen activities. This is the beginning of the conversation you generate that has you creating the kind of world you want to live in with the help of a whole bunch of Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Now edit it a bit. You can put it in your billfold or purse and carry it around with you.jagia-07146. pick your five favorite activities and circle them. Here you go. The purpose of my life is to use my (list the five general characteristics you circled) ______________________ . If you're on a bus or in a singles bar or at a party and you strike up a conversation with somebody and they ask you what you do for a living. Continue with Exercise 3.nr . ______________________ . ______________________. Write it on the wall next to the telephone. Phil Laut. telling stories. add or subtract whatever makes this more powerful for you. Make a poster from it. says: "It is possible that several iterations will be required before you have a statement of purpose that you will like well enough to write on a slip of paper and carry around with you. In your own statement. Write it on a flag and fly it from the back of a 4x4 driving down Main Street on the Fourth of July. make people cry when they hear it. change one or the other. who created this exercise. Because I don't know exactly what you wrote.nr . If what you envision for your projects doesn't match what you envision for your life. and it's ready to cook with: The purpose of my life is to use my listening skills. Without a clear sense of your purpose all of the education you receive and all of the improvements that you make in yourself serve only to make you a more productive slave to someone else's purpose. Print a tee-shirt that says: "Grandma went to Florida and all I got was this lousy Life Purpose." You now have something to use to consider how you spend the moments of your life.jagia-07146. being in my body. Here's one that someone just wrote in a workshop. Put it on the refrigerator.co. You can work on a life purpose statement like you would work on a poem or a song. and joyfulness by giving speeches. make it move people. Write it on slips of paper and drop it from the Goodyear blimp at the Super Bowl. communicating ability. Do a photo essay on it. writing. Write a song from it. I'll review a sample life purpose statement in case you want an example to follow while you are revising yours." Congratulations again on your creation! There is your life purpose in bold print. Some of the benefits that you can expect are that thinking and behavior that do not support your purpose will be more evident to you and goal setting and decision making will both be easier. teaching. Make a display of it. If what you spend your Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. clear definition of your purpose may require some careful thought to resolve conflicting values. Polish it and make it sing. charisma. The statement and expression of your purpose is derived from your values. For this reason. You can see that in this individual's statement there are six characteristics and six specific behaviors. and embracing loved ones to bring about a world in which every person lives in a family and in a community in which they are listened to and spoken to with honor. Play with this to make it as clear and inspiring for you as possible. Put it in a bottle and throw it in the ocean for Robertson Crewsole to pick off the beach in a year or so. Make it inspiring to other people as well. You now have something with which to compare your vision statements in your projects. courage.other people. and supported to live a life of honesty and constant creating. Later. 18. Remember that this work of planning and sharing is really for fun. If those headings cover everything you are now doing as well as everything you plan to do. You will probably create between five and nine domains. You don't just do it to make hell bearable.Determine the projects for each domain.Continue the practices of meditation and telling the truth to stay in touch with your essential self.Get clear about the purpose of your life and articulate that in a comprehensive sentence. then you are finished with this part and are ready to move on to identify the projects for each domain. entertainment.time on in your life is consistent with the purpose of your life. a chess diagram in the newspaper. Hang loose and celebrate.jagia-07146. and so on). health and well being. When you name your domains. money. recreation. or training wheels on a child's bike. you want to include everything you are currently doing in your life and everything new that you want to do. What Is A Project Outline? A project outline is a learning tool like the foot outlines on a dance floor. Just come up with the titles to the projects to begin with. and money and travel. 17. 5. Use names that make sense to you for your life domains. You are beginning this sequence of activities: 1. This is only your life purpose.Plan and write up the projects in great detail using the model presented in the next chapter. If you followed the directions in the life purpose chapter one step at a time. 4. 2. you will have at least one project (and usually several projects) for each domain. You are beginning the process of transforming the hell of having a mind into the blessing of a useful mind. recreation. which you created. 3. Continuing these practices of noticing what is so in the moment and noticing the noticer is absolutely critical to bringing the projects you envision into being.Determine the domains of your life and write them down. If you didn't do that yet. when you write up your projects. and you can change it when you like. This is so you don't get too attached to your projects or get to believing that who you are depends on their success. go back and do it now. then it's time to change your life projects or your life purpose again. Be nonchalant.nr . career. Domains To take some actual control over your life. This is not serious. Creating in Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Regain your freedom as a being. Go meditate now and release yourself from any sense of obligation. family. and then go play some more life. first determine what the domains of your life are. Share your projects with your friends and get them to help. family. As you do so.co. the work will become play. If not. the being who lives each moment. go ahead and create away and have a hell of a good time doing it. Let's say you have determined them as work. You use domains to identify the multiple dimensions of your life in a way that seems intuitively correct to you (for example. you were tricked into coming up with a life purpose statement. You do it to make hell fun. Be totally committed without attachment. a short addition to this section keeps a running account of the ups and downs. the melody of creating is the expression of the creator. format your projects as outlined below. This ongoing pleasure in new learning is like "that seriousness of a child at play" that Nietzsche spoke about. Like a novice guitar player. Changes in available information. or goals are a natural part of the creating process. is immediately stale and obsolete. with time and experience. categorizing the goal. Eventually. These practices keep the creator one step ahead of the mind. as creator of the world and a good life. The mind is a tricky devil and will work hard to make this process stale very quickly. once written and acted upon. Life moves too fast to have a single writeup remain the same. the fun of "writing history in advance" becomes a looked-forward-to enterprise. As life changes and moves around us. Embracing changes by dreaming them up. noticing the world with the senses. action. The mind gets attached to anything envisioned and written down. It's a fine line between continually recreating a project and being trapped by it. The project outline format that follows helps keep the project simple and focused. and questioning the logic of the creation. Domain: Name of domain here. skip this step when you write it up. noticing thinking. To avoid the distress caused by attachment to models of the mind.co. Constantly fiddling with and updating a project encourages you to tap into fresh passion and adopt a wider perspective with each new success or defeat. Brief History: This is the story of what you have done on the project previously if you have any history with it. the creator carefully plucks the strings of a project precisely as the book instructs until. rather than dreading changes. and being present to a community of friends who are co-creators is all you need to do to stay free. Many of us have had project writeups get obsolete within hours of pulling them from the printer. perspective. A project outline.jagia-07146.the social world—the creating done through speaking and listening—requires some discipline so you improve through experience and practice. Project outlines are to be treated like tissues. so that recreating projects and achieving breakthroughs continue.nr . and focus of attention on the overall vision of the project remain intact even though new information that shows up may have you doing many things you didn't originally anticipate. The format of a project encourages its constant recreation and modification. Background Commitment: This is a statement of values that express why this Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Action creates change. telling the truth. creators must continually practice distinguishing between noticing and thinking. Remaining grounded in experience and noticing what is happening NOW by meditating. creating shoulds. a project outline gets revised and moves with us. and being aware of noticing itself. allows you the flexibility to take advantage of emerging opportunities. As the project continues and you hit major milestones. The commitment. The project outline guides the creator in the first slow steps toward creating a powerful life. Project Name: Name of project here. allow the being you are to be grounded in sensate experience in the here and now. The practices that develop noticing sensations in the body. If it is a brand new project. We suggest that you. We want you to make a compelling vision you can almost taste. (Buy that book. 10/15/99. touch. and see. Send logo to printer. Picture 3: Another sensory rich description of the experience of this project when it has been brought into being. 9/20/99. Vision: Picture 1: A sensory rich description of the experience of this project when it has been brought into being. you have the skeleton Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Get business cards. Date Printed: Frequent updates can get confusing. A clear vision of where you are going with what you are doing helps a lot. State: Choices are: FORMULATION CONCENTRATION MOMENTUM STABILITY BREAKTHROUGH These states determine how you will manage your project. Picture 2: Another sensory rich description of the experience of this project when it has been brought into being. (They are explained in more detail in chapter twenty-two.co. This line keeps you current. This section keeps focus on the "creative tension" described in Robert Fritz's book Creating. In that gap there are degrees of attainment. These are milestones that mark the stages of accomplishment of the project. Measures: Where the creator wants to go. Much of the updating of your project occurs here. This usually includes friends who want you to be happy and successful. 10/5/99. Action (What to Do and by When): A simplified example follows. support. Description of Overall Plan: This is a description of how the creator will organize his actions to bring the future and ongoing measures into reality. feel.) In the beginning. It is the way you come to speak to others about your projects. Network of Support: People whose experience and interests provide information and resources for accomplishment of the project. Committed Listener: A fellow creator who will listen. or people whom you are helping with their projects. Now if you will put those bold headings on a page. Get logo.nr . It later becomes the heart of the "laser statement" you will eventually create to describe each project so you can have a powerful impact on others when you speak about your project. You picture something and keep on talking about it and it shows up.) The tension is between where you are and where you want to be. This vision is also to keep you going through the harder parts of creating—the work that is not as much fun as you thought it would be. when you are writing up a project for the first time. Now synthesize these three pictures into one. A commitment to some possibility in the future that the project is an expression of.project is important to the creator: what you value and how you intend to act on these values. hear.jagia-07146. you are in the state called FORMULATION. and coach you in the process. This is what you will communicate to others and picture for yourself to maintain the conversation you continue to create because that is how visions become reality. If you feel inspired to. which has the same title as the domain. Don't worry about whether you have too many or too few. and partying). engaging in the Great Conversation).co. After you get to look over the project titles and vision statements. You will get more coaching from this book about doing that once you have written up all your projects. Sample Domains And Projects—A System Of Organization Now that you have seen one project writeup and its results. planning and organizing projects. Just cover everything you are doing currently in your life and attempting to manage. and manage them with what is called an "umbrella project. If you want more powerful coaching in greater detail. spending time with friends. 19." which is written and used after all the other projects are written up. They include everything I do now and everything I plan to do. spending time with family. What follows is the model of the overall system or organization I used in a recent writeup of my projects. and everything you want to do in the near future. I suggest you proceed with making project titles and vision statements first. You come up with project titles for every project in each domain. You will probably come up with somewhere between 6 and 20 projects. Then you formulate a vision statement for the project and proceed to fill in the blanks for the other elements. skiing.jagia-07146. go ahead and write up at least one project to completion and then continue reading this book. physical work around the farm.to put the flesh of your own creations on. enroll in the Course in Honesty and then the creators' reunion groups. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. For the time being I want to just mention one goal that came from my umbrella project because it fits in nicely here. traveling. Now you know what you do with your domains. and swimming). One of my overall objectives is: BALANCE. running. I work simultaneously on those projects. If not. meditation. One may have five projects. Do just the project titles and vision statements for now and then read on. working out with weights and machines. and cover all your domains. Let's say you have six domains. I have at least one project (usually a number of projects) for each domain. read on and come back later. •Physical exercise and attention (including golf. kayaking. teaching. the conceptual divisions that seem right to me. Two of the domains may have just one project. reading. I manage my projects with an eye to keeping a balance of time spent on these activities. you may be ready to get a picture of the overall use of a project design system to focus energy in your life. spending time with Amy.nr . Domains (Domains are the major areas of my life. yoga. running. •Social interaction (including running workshops. you can make plans to change some aspects of your current life and invent new elements of your envisioned future by making a plan over time about how you make changes in how you spend your time. Two domains may have three projects each. seeing clients.) The domains of my life in 1999 are listed in the following outline. This also gives you an example of the value of organizing your visions for the future. These domains cover every activity of my waking life. •Intellectual recreation (including writing books and articles. I am committed to creating communities of people capable of intimacy. Well-Being and Recreation •Money Projects Listed by Domain: First Domain: Radical Honesty Enterprises—A Career Gone Wrong Title: WORKSHOP LEADING (This is a full project writeup that you can use as a model for your own projects.) Vision One: I lead one two-day (Introduction to Radical Honesty) workshop each month and one eight-day (Course in Honesty) workshop every six weeks. that is. I will now use the format you are learning for writing up projects. I am committed to enjoying the process of growing for other people and myself. I have an intermediately detailed workshop manual that is revised every eighteen months. more productive lives and to empowering them to help other people do the same.jagia-07146. social activity. I see a meeting of the United Nations that begins with a twenty-minute meditation and proceeds with reports of projects using a version of this model I now teach. Six weeks to one month in advance of two-day workshops. Fifty-person enrollments in the two-day become standard and Ed and Taber also learn to lead these introductions this year. communications afterward. relating to each other based on telling the truth rather than pretending. enrollments in workshops. Friends and Love Life •Sparrowhawk Homestead •Health. and lots of media coverage to help the cause of honest permission to share how life is among human beings so that the redesign of culture itself becomes possible. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. enthusiasm. while participating with people in these domains of my life. Background Commitment: I am committed to helping people live happier. serving people all the while. These workshops are organized and filled by everyone else who works for Radical Honesty Enterprises. and intellectual recreational activity. I lead three-hour introductions to Radical Honesty in six selected cities. I aim to maintain a balance of physical activity. Other trainers are running Introduction to Radical Honesty and Course in Honesty workshops together without my participation. I co-lead a trainers training. I am committed to: •delivering people from domination by their own minds. We generate applause.co. A World that Works for Me and Everyone I Know 1999 Brad Blanton Domains •Radical Honesty Enterprises—(A Career Gone Wrong) •Family.nr . and it goes on without me being there. That said. Twice a year. Vision Two: I see a group of people sitting in a circle being led by someone who is really good and trained by me. There are usually between 100 and 150 people in these presentations. We have a digital video of each one of these for use by people being trained to give these presentations.That is. and I have an intern and a co-leader in each workshop. workshop leaders. I want to create the future human culture as a place of love and nurturance instead of moralism for young humans. along with some additional training. one or more Trainer's workshops. and other authors. and an internship. I have now conducted what was formerly the Nine Day Workshop over a dozen times. Deepak Chopra. Neale Donald Walsch. Committed Listeners: Ed Greville. Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks. and people with wisdom from all walks of life to support their work and have their work support our whole community. working alongside each other toward the same end. Measures: Full enrollment in six Course in Honesty workshops for the year 1999. For every participant who completes the Course in Honesty and consequent groups. •seeding the culture of the world with therapeutic communities and making the world into a therapeutic community. •building therapeutic communities of lifelong friends. I am committed to every member of every workshop group being trained and disciplined in skills of grounding in their own experience of being in their bodies and noticing what is going on in the world and listening powerfully and creatively to other people and designing and conducting their lives according to their own plans. David Korten. I am committed to the continued existence of these communities of support. Robert Fritz. I also want to continue to affiliate with Marilyn Ferguson. I am committed to supporting them in becoming capable of running the workshops. •inspiring people and making them happy. Brief History: I have designed and conducted a Workshop called Telling the Truth since 1989. I have now created the Course in Honesty so that •it can be replicated and conducted by others. and •workshop participation. Tom Peters. management consultants.•freeing people enough from their minds that they can use them rather than be used by them. Stan Dale.nr . •people can get great results in life from doing the workshop.co. I am committed to generating successful communities of support in the world for telling the truth. and the Eight Day about fifteen times. I want to continue to affiliate with the work of Landmark Education and support that work and be supported by it without us duplicating or substituting for each other.jagia-07146. prepares selected people to conduct the Introduction to Radical Honesty and the Course in Honesty. I am committed to the success of everyone in these communities in designing and bringing into being the results they plan for. so that participants can pass on the benefits of living out loud to their families and people they are related to outside the community of support. At least twenty trainees participating in the Train the Trainers workshop in Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. •exemplifying and encouraging a life of play and service. The manual is written and gets revised and added to regularly. These workshops have become the Course in Honesty. Tina Oehser State: FORMULATION…CONCENTRATION…MOMENTUM…STABILITY… BREAKTHROUGH. and awarded by June 15. and to the idea that when we share information honestly and help each other in how we live and create together it makes for a better life for all of us. starting in the year 2000. what you think. What to Do and by When: Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Six new people are certified by May 30. I will conduct twelve twoday Introduction to Radical Honesty workshops and have at least four led by other trainers by themselves. and trainers from the last two trainings personally invited by me by February 15. One-fifth of new participants coming from enrollment by former participants because of those participants' enthusiasm and success. Six certified trainers have come out of those trainings. and me. a religious organization dedicated to the memory of George Bush (not really). What to do and by when: (Transferred to daytimer and weekly to do list. and what you have done helps you to have a better life. Trainers Training manual completed by May 1. printed.) Project Title: TRAINER'S TRAINING (A modified and somewhat partial project writeup. conduct six Course in Honesty Workshops and one Trainers' Training Workshop for twenty/thirty participants who have all done the Course in Honesty workshop.nr .) Vision: We have an organized trainers manual for this training and it is co-led by three people: Ed Greville.May. and continuing on for more intensive work. Notices of trainer training sent to candidates for the training. Using the outlines of the Introduction to Radical Honesty and the Course in Honesty workshops. Network of Support People: The gang of graduates. There is a staff person to work on this for a couple of months in advance of each meeting and. Brief History: I have run three Trainers Trainings before this year. I expect to certify several more at the May training. Twenty-five people enrolled by May 10. The Board of Advisors and Board of Directors meetings occur right before this trainers training each year. Background Commitment: I am committed to people learning how to teach radical honesty to other people. Out of these I will found The Point of Light. as a time for re-visioning the future and redesign of the program.co. to the principle that telling the truth about what you feel. The Course in Forgiveness and the Course in Creating will integrate more powerfully the results of the workshops in people's lives. These workshops will be the way people can learn from my trainees and me after reading Radical Honesty. Description of Overall Plan: For the year. each year. The criteria for certification have been developed. Taber Shadburne. by their own report and that of their friends. Committed Listener: Ed Greville State: Momentum Measures: Rewrite of manual for Course in Honesty completed by the end of February. doing a two-day Introduction to Radical Honesty workshop. Certificates designed. The training workshop for training trainers. Accomplishment of the goals set by people for the Reunion. they build on what we learned the previous years. It is looked forward to as a trainers' intensive for people working on certification.jagia-07146. we have taught each other the main lecture segments and conversations and then practiced hot seat work. and as a bi-annual meeting of the certified trainers. His reformulation of what he was about at work. Send out special invitations by March 1. Good luck. (Ed. It is an example of how. Using the Project Writeup Model You can use the models and forms from this chapter as a template for your projects and you can refer back to my sample projects if you have questions that are not answered by the instructions in these upcoming chapters. Reformulation of Current Work Using the Project Write-Up This is a true story told by Paul LaFontaine. Write a draft Trainers Training manual and pass it around by March 15. I recommend you write up all of yours completely.co.nr . He also got a $2. and myself) by April 15. A review of Paul's project proves that the future is not destined to be a replication of the past.jagia-07146. however many you have. through writing up his projects according to his vision. in January and July of each year. at least once in this fashion. I generally have twelve to twenty project writeups each six months. When the company had hired me a Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. a graduate of the Eight Day Radical Honesty Workshop. Meet with Amy and Ed and complete the manual by March 30. Make your life a work of art.Rewrite the manual by the end of February. and actually makes us excited about the possibilities of our own lives. Amy. Here is Paul's story in his own words: How Work Becomes Play by Paul LaFontaine The chair was uncomfortable as I sat down. changed a disgruntled employee (with a recent moderately poor performance review) to a recognized significant player in the design for the future growth of his company.000 raise. You will need a minimum of three to continue on as designer of your life through the assignments in the next section of this book. by reformulating what he was doing at work—through writing up his project according to his vision—Paul changed his life at work. Send out general invitation by March 1. So go ahead and give it a shot right now and do three project writeups. My boss had called me into his office for my annual performance review. Summary of the Project Writeup Format Domain: Project Title: Brief History: Background Commitment: Vision: Committed Listener: Network of Support: State: Measures: Description of Overall Plan: Action: Date Printed: 20. Call to follow up on enrollment. " for my dissatisfactions. Prior to leaving for the workshop. He showed us how to meditate. I had been given the task to "coordinate and document company departmental involvement" on a $5 million office refurbishment. "Really. they said they needed me to examine process efficiency in the facility. I recreated my work by writing a clear vision and measures of success with timelines. I learned about myself. After several days. He put me in a chair and listened to me talk. responsibility. Project in hand. I was going to expand on my furniture purchasing and become a creator of work environments that would transform the company from a sea of cubicles to an open space where teams would flourish. I called this project "Work Environment Creator.nr . language. I organized furniture orders for the company into projects. My vacation was the Radical Honesty Eight Day Workshop. I returned to the company and began talking about work environments.jagia-07146. but be careful. they had me doing the paperwork. Whenever a piece of furniture was purchased or moved." he said. After a moment of complete silence. only once had they caught me short of paperwork. It was boring work and it had me trapped because I needed the paycheck. He showed us movies. I listened to Brad describe a technique useful in being a powerful creator. I learned how to notice what came up for me emotionally. I would transform my work into play. they wanted me to sit and write memos. after which they bitched at me for not completing the forms to their satisfaction. I learned. They deserved a rebuttal. Most importantly. I spoke. consultants. so I checked my Work Environment Creator project and decided that I had a better plan. As the workshop neared completion. I took charge. My rebuttal would hammer this point and embarrass them with their lack of information. handing me the review." I would be unstoppable. "They changed it.co. and contractors together around a table and looked at each of them as I leaned forward in a large. I wrote a better review. and personal power. There's nothing I can do. I could create my own life in my projects. He spoke of a life of play. but a project of my own was different. "them. I gathered the architect." I replied. I drew diagrams and talked about creating an open space where teams would flourish. After some instruction.year before. I was excited by his description. and began walking around the building asking people what they needed to improve their workspace. left my cubicle. He talked about how we are the creators of our own experience." "They're always doing things like this. I noticed that in my mind I was blaming other people. I was excited by my vision and couldn't stop talking about it. Brad Blanton spoke about stories. coaching me to notice what I was experiencing. I heard him describe the writing of projects. From my small chair in a cubicle amidst a sea of cubicles. comfortable chair. I got out of my small chair. "Can I write a rebuttal?" "Yeah. a clever rebuttal took shape. In one. I learned about fear. Instead. "This project is the first step in recreating this building as an open Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. and telling the truth. I didn't know what this meant. They wrote that I had failed to document purchases satisfactorily. Once it was completed and in the mail I prepared for a vacation. I wrote my projects." my boss said. Of the many purchases I had made that year. I was creating work environments. Using learning from another project I had created and my experience at the Radical Honesty Workshop. I felt free. I was playing. How to Make Hell Fun Paul transformed his relationship to work at his company by making a paradigm shift." he replied.nr ." said a director. I reviewed my project and prepared to create a work environment for the executive group. I had a vision of the entire building being an open space that supported teams. "I am going to work with each department and develop a plan for creating for them an open. calls a shift from the reacting orientation to the creating orientation. I was assigned the project. He did what Robert Fritz. I reviewed my project and was ready for more." said a consultant." "OK. our people moved in. I drew more pictures. I was having fun." "OK. I walked past an abandoned rows of cubicles that I was having disassembled and went on to my new office. I drew pictures for them from which they began modifying their workspace on their own. I said it to my friends. I had fun. strangers.jagia-07146. I applauded them. As a result of doing the workshop. I was comfortable as I sat in my large chair. "We will complete it and have our people move in on July 8th. The executives decided they were going to build a new office building. I said it yet again. I was excited as I told the department managers about the advantages of an open environment. I was slowly and steadily bringing my vision into being. I talked about a team-based facility. "Can't disagree with that." I said. I then said this to the management of the company and the people who would move into the space. a change in perspective that allowed him to recreate everything at work from a different perspective. I said it in the restroom. and Corporate Tides. I listened as people told me what a good job I had done. I was making my project with its vision a reality." I said. I created a workshop where departmental managers for the company could develop a team-based work environment for their people." said another vice president. I said it in my sleep. I started giving the workshop. When people rolled their eyes in meetings and expressed doubts as to whether a project this size could be finished on time. the brilliant author of the books The Path of Least Resistance." said the architect. "Your new space will be a team-based space.co.environment that supports teams. Paul began to come from some place other than reacting to Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. I met with them and talked about an open space in which teams could flourish." "OK. I was consulted and I said it again. I smiled as I spoke to myself. I said it in the cafeteria. On July 8th. "Let's get to work. "Good idea." I concluded. I talked about how I was creating this in each department. "I'll have these plans ready for future growth." said a vice president. "You are the example for the rest of the facility. team-based work environment. The group who had been "they" to me months before sat and nodded their heads. Creating. When quick decisions were needed. I visited the vice president of the facility. and anyone who would listen. so I set to work. or in the control of the army. Boris Yeltsin was in the main legislative building which was surrounded by tanks. a man named Sam. He wrote up his project and got funding on a joint venture with people he knew involving two major hotel chains in America. He helped create a new and different world for all of us. to become a conscious creator of his life rather than a set of reactions. the hotel man. stepped out into the rain. satellite communications. He used the skills he developed before he became a conscious creator to aid in bringing about a future he envisioned and he brought it about. put on a trench coat. and into the parliament building. All television. walked between the tanks. radio.circumstances imposed upon him by his job. bought a hotel. and stayed on the telephone all that night. with the help of The Advanced Course conducted by Landmark Education. Sam was in Moscow in his renovated hotel in 1995 when the military coup was attempted. and revised it every six months. Creating: Using the Medium of Project Design and Communication I have been formulating my life into projects. went to Moscow. No one knows how many or which people Boris Yeltsin talked to that night. Sam spoke and listened a project into being. intending to have an impact on the Cold War. who had years of experience as a hotel and resort manager. and rebuilt it with meeting rooms and all the most modern electronic equipment and communications support available at the time. He wanted to create a meeting place in Moscow. He was at the right place at the right time and with the right listening for the opportunity to make a difference in a direction he had chosen consciously in advance. The next day the coup failed. for fifteen years now. There is not a waking minute I spend on whatever work or play I do that is not intimately related Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www." and handed him a cellular telephone. He said. His vision was to create a meeting place for the Iron Curtain countries and the West to maximize the possibility of communication among the leaders and businesspeople of those nations. Sam. Boris Yeltsin took the phone. For fifteen years I have designed my life a year at a time. "I thought you might find this useful. He decided that he wanted to use his skills as a hotelier to increase the possibility of communication between the Eastern Bloc countries and the West to bring about peace in the world.co. An Individual Project that Changed the World In 1993. consciously designed. The coup was accomplished. President Gorbachev was under house arrest and confined to his quarters at a vacation resort in the South. He put audio visual equipment. just that he was on the phone for six hours straight and the coup collapsed the next day. and facilities into a very modern and comfortable setting. thanked him. which became a project design. gutted it.jagia-07146. using the reactive equipment for service commonly known as Brad Blanton. and switchboards were turned off. blocked out. Absolutely everything I do in my life now was once only a figment of my imagination.nr . walked two blocks to the ring of tanks. computerized media presentation devices. and he did. The generals announced that they were in charge and that the government was under military command. decided. which operated by satellite through a dish mounted atop his hotel two blocks away. He walked right up to Boris Yeltsin. So was my six year old son. a lot more in the direction you intended than the normal chances of life would take you. the book.to a conscious act of creation of my own.jagia-07146. you can compare the vision statements for all the projects with your life purpose statement and make some revisions in both. as you steer your life's projects. 21. I will share with you the outline for my current writeup of my recent projected life in the following chapter on the Umbrella Project. and then write up your umbrella project to manage them with. staying in shape time.") Conscious management of your life so you can get in enough party time. however. and the business called Radical Honesty Enterprises. golf time. the workshops. This kind of living never looks like you thought it would. Your life purpose statement becomes the background commitment statement and vision statement for your umbrella project itself. This makes possible balance and persistent attention to all your projects. Remember. Your grandmother could have told you. Maybe that's why she forgot to tell you. and so forth really happens at this highest level of management. just that they show up in a context of opportunity that was created before they happened. the perspective from which they are managed. At the end of this chapter. As Werner Erhard once said. reading and writing time. It is not that all occurrences are anticipated. It may be modified frequently. and then you can design the rest of your umbrella project.co. The umbrella project ensures consistent attention to all your projects. "You can have anything you want as long as it doesn't have to look like you thought it would. This way you can see how I do it. it's your life you are creating and you can modify the Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. but they occur within the contexts I have consciously created and it makes a big difference. So was the house I built we now live in. This is the overview of all other projects. and allows you to add the further goal of maintaining a balance of physical. Once your projects are written up. social.nr . they are in relation to projects of my design. My daughter who is fourteen years old now was written up as a project before we got pregnant. Radical Honesty. Lots of unforeseen things occur as they do in anyone's life. for all the domains of your life. This is the secret to the good life. It's so simple it's hardly worth mentioning. but the consistency of your commitment to all your projects is kept in balance this way in accordance with your life purpose statement. I hope this will inspire you to create your own life projects consciously as an artist and by design as an individual and that you will join me in teaching others by example. with more time put in on some than others. You can do this for your life if you want to. When unexpected events occur in the world. this book you are reading. Write up all your projects. (For example. So was our marriage. "I want to spend at least twenty percent of my days doing physical work or play and have social and intellectual activities be about evenly split for the rest of the time. and intellectual activity. we walk through an umbrella project from beginning to end." A life of conscious design is. you design your umbrella project to manage all your projects in all the domains of your life. The Umbrella Project Once your projects are written up. to put more time in on some projects at some times than others. You can modify it if you like. or get more chocolate chip cookies. Your perceived weaknesses.design as frequently as you like. your unremitting body odor to become a wealthy bloodhound trainer. You could use your unacceptably loud voice to become a champion hog caller. It is worth the trouble of making a videotape of yourself telling your life story to a group of people and then watching the tape while taking notes to be used in the design of your future. or someone designing a sitting place on a promenade. These exercises may help. or a composer attempting to modify a theme already begun. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Choose the skills you have developed for defense to use in the act of creation. You will notice that you will have a tendency. or your hangnail to become a professional hang glider. when they write up their umbrella project. Your life is already started. but the consistency of your commitment to all your projects is kept in balance through the umbrella project. Umbrella Project Title: The title and your name go here. Get what it is. are actually your potential strengths. It is there. Exercise 1: Write the survival strategy you employed as a child to avoid punishment. you have a videotape made during the workshop in which you told the entire story of your life to the group and answered all questions that arose from the telling. You received feedback from the group on what appeared to be themes in your life or themes in the way you told your story. which you will now reuse as assets. waiting for the lay of the land and the view to tell him how to place the benches and the flowers and shrubs.jagia-07146. Reunion Group participants.nr . be accepted. The Story of My Personality: This is your theory about the elements of personality that have been discovered in the course of the earlier assignment in the chapter on Planning the Future. Here you define the defenses and records of the mind that formerly have been reactions and barriers to real control in life. Look for the themes and repeated patterns in the story of your life. and modify it until it feels like a masterpiece.co. are asked to watch their tape again with significant others and discuss it. You are going to explore your assessments of who you are in search of those parts of you that you get yourself stuck with so that you can flip them around and use them in your creating. They sit before their own story like an artist in front of a canvas that is not complete yet. written in the format of "The purpose of my life is to use my______ ______ by _______ __________to bring about a world in which _______. in accord with your life purpose statement—the background commitment statement and vision statement for your umbrella project itself. If you are doing this after taking the Course in Honesty and before the first reunion group meeting (the Course in Forgiveness). You are panning for gold in your life story. The umbrella project is organized in the following format." You already wrote this when you worked through the exercises in the Life Purpose Statement chapter. as you steer your life's projects. as well as your known strengths. What My Life Is Committed to and What It Will Be Like Because I Say So Is… This is your life purpose. write books. love of people. intelligence. associations. At the end of my life. Vision Statement Two: I am in demand constantly to do workshops. then the day-to-day expressions in Exercise 2. Now. and interacted with in a family and community of functional happy human beings. loved. and raising children and grandchildren in such as way as to create the possibility of a lifetime of play and service for every human being on planet earth.nr . Umbrella Project Title: A World That Works for Me and Everyone I Know in 1999. My books are read by business and political and intellectual leaders of the world. You have compared the vision for your life with each project vision. I help everyone born get raised by being played with.Exercise 2: Write your day-to-day expression of that strategy. you have a sense of unity concerning what you are about and a basis for clearer and cleared communication in conversation with others about what you are bringing into being with your life. Vision: The purpose of my life is to use my perceptiveness. sheltered. What carries over now from that early strategy in your family life and your work life? If you threw tantrums as a child to get cookies. If they didn't go together well. then the way you'll flip this strategy on its head as written in Exercise 3. The life purpose statement you formulated in a non-linear fashion is now used for the background commitment and vision statement for the umbrella project. Maybe your tantrums can launch you as a world leader of the International Order of Histrionics. and love of life by writing books. love of children. and do television shows.jagia-07146. Beneath the umbrella project. designing and conducting workshops. sharing honestly with friends. Lead with the theory developed in Exercise 1. This new world comes about because of how my friends and I have lived. here is the beginning of my umbrella project. Out of my life and the lives of friends.co. you either changed your project or changed the vision for your life. A large staff of twenty to 400 people manages our mutual empire. and expand them one at a time. fed. do you rant and rave at work to get things done? Exercise 3: Flip your strategy on its head. and corporations toward a system of world organization in which the distribution of opportunity and the distribution of wealth are coordinated to bring about the elevation of all Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Many of my colleagues and I are constantly asked to deliver commencement addresses at universities and receive honorary degrees. Write how your day-to-day expression of your strategy can be useful. projects will grow consistent with your life vision. giving talks and making media appearances. the creator. Finally. list all your domains and projects. and the vision statements for each project are aligned with your overall vision for your life as expressed in this statement. make public appearances. and loved them and each other. In this context. raised our children. individual projects are the expression of a being who is an artist creating his own life. Domains and Projects: Here is where you. You will be pleasantly surprised at how many allies show up to work with you. most of my work is in coordinating the work of major institutions. Exercise 4: Write the story of your personality. nr . Walking Through an Umbrella Project You have had an opportunity to look at a conceptual overview of an umbrella project. I consider myself bright.jagia-07146. telling stories. entertaining. writing. and become a household word when people mean to say "plenty good enough. in print. As you steer your life's projects. I build a sand castle and grab as many people as possible to come and see it. and a leader. in accordance with your life purpose statement. and embracing relationships to bring about a world in which every person lives a life of vibrant personal power. It took considerable effort to flush this out of my unconscious Self and into the red hot fire of Realization. Before and after I die." I will become known as the George Washington of the first world government based on truly sharing the real wealth of the world— the freedom and creativity of its people. noticing. let's go through this process one step at a time. We can see how the different parts relate to each other and to the entire process of creating a life from preference. my name will appear in stone. using body gestures and movement to capture attention. My Story of My Personality: My theory is that I was raised in a way that led me to constantly perform. on television. Background Commitment : I am committed to training people and trainers in radical honesty to bring about a world in which all human beings have the opportunity to constantly be delivered from the limitations of belief and be reborn into the possibility of a lifetime of play and service to each other. coaching.human beings in poverty of goods or mind to a luxurious minimum standard. I want to lead people and create results. My Purpose: The purpose of my life is to use my courage. you will put more time in on some projects at some times than at others. and intuitively listening to and watching individuals and groups as I communicate with them. I express anger by destroying or shutting off everything related to the Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www." The skills I developed were speaking and writing clearly. Now. charisma. My domains and a few of my projects that fit in here are what you read in the chapter on sample domains and projects. Umbrella Project for: Paul LaFontaine This is my name. communicating ability and joyfulness by giving speeches. on street signs. I hide my feelings behind tangible accomplishments and passive aggressive behavior. I present accomplishments as trophies to prove competence and seek approval. particularly where I talked about the use of my personality to create with. Umbrella Project Writeups After the vision and background committment are completed for the Umbrella Project the domains and projects follow. Some of the further elements of my umbrella project writeup are included in earlier chapters as well. clever. guiding. but the consistency of your commitment to all your projects is kept in balance this way. in history books. The rigors of an examined life can be excruciating. I believe my performance controls people around me by giving them a predigested version of "me. listening skills. I also developed logic and visualization skills. This is Paul LaFontaine's umbrella project from a few years ago. visionary. Now we will break apart another real life umbrella project written by a Course in Honesty graduate.co. I will bring into being a circle where nothing is hidden and the mind is interrupted by the impulse of all participants to be present and clear. If I am told it's time to leave the beach. The Performer blames the Helpless One and suppresses the Wild Man. I noticed my passive aggressive behavior and unwillingness to express anger and saw a common theme in my dreams. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.co. My domains are like guitar strings. I summarized my purpose as a "performer" and directed it toward the service to others. and communities in the ongoing creation of a transcendent community where every person lives a life of vibrant personal power. I will not serve them. This story came out of my work with Brad Blanton at a Radical Honesty Workshop. For this year I have created the umbrella project." I witness a struggle within me between the Performer. I will build this circle so it will challenge the scripts put in place by stories handed down from earlier generations with its own unique story of transcendence. Communities of Practice is the coaching and guiding of teams. I choose to flip this dynamic on its head and use these three parts of my whole to accept helplessness freely and perform in the power of that dynamic. My life is to serve people by performing. Family Circle is the nourishing environment in which I live with a partner. Defusing the Mindbomb is the personal space in which I experience the silence and power of Being. children. one project in the domain of Defusing the Mindbomb. I choose to do what I have been condemned to do. Ultimately. I quietly kick the sand castle to pieces and throw the bucket. Family Circle. I'm glad we're leaving.source of my anger. but at the center is the group space where the interaction honors the individual Being by encouraging the face-to-face interaction which calls the individual forth to take responsibility for their own personal power. guide. Domains: The domains of my life are Defusing the Mindbomb. I will build a physical place. and support others through the stuck places they experience and celebrate their breakthroughs with them. coach. to sit in the seat of satisfaction and be artists creating their lives.jagia-07146. playing in the sandbox of the world is a life well wasted. Hero's Journey. tell stories. At the end of this section. shovels. The journey can be a difficult one. my swimsuit and towels in the trash. I will write. The relationship of these harmonics creates the music that is the expression of my life purpose.nr . organizations. Hero's Journey is the support for individuals in their attainment of vibrant personal power. It is the impulse to refresh my connection with the source of this play. a home in the shape of a circle where each individual has personal space for recharging his or her own batteries on the perimeter. guide them toward building a transcendent culture. I will create and develop projects that will invigorate communities. "Nothing. which gave me the analogy of the three conflicting aspects of myself. When asked what's wrong I say. and Communities of Practice. When one is plucked they all vibrate. and this domain will balance any attachments I will form to the game. the Helpless One. and plant the seeds that will carry this movement through the inevitable future cycles of death and rebirth. and family. These three will serve me. and the Wild Man. It is the wellspring from which strength and enthusiasm will spring. three projects in the domain of Family Circle. this does not stand for where in the U. Then do a background commitment statement and proceed through the Umbrella Project model for your own future life. for every ten calls you expect one return. Momentum. At the point in the project writeup where State is listed. and Breakthrough. and from me. You receive some that you didn't expect.jagia-07146. based on my experience of using their model. Then come up with a further vision. Exercise: Write your life purpose statement as your first vision statement. That is. buy supplies. You collect information from other sources and write up your project on your own.co. •Breakthrough happens when you have been operating at stability and all of a sudden wonderful things you never could have predicted happen that blow your mind. Your Umbrella Project This Umbrella Project writeup had a profound effect on Paul's life because of the impact it had on his speaking and listening and way of being in the world. These phase definitions are from Results Management by Kaplan. The rule of thumb for this phase is ten out. People know what their jobs are. Calls and letters come in and are handled in a clear and efficient fashion. I have created these categories and in the writing constantly refer them back to my purpose. and so on. By this phase. A brief description of each phase follows. You make phone calls. I begin to automatically create them in my life. •The Formulation stage of a project is when you are first writing it up. You may not be able to stand it. •Momentum is the phase where responses start coming in. The stage you identify demarcates the current status of the project and Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. as well as to "train" myself to remember key phrases and pictures. one back. showing that the conversation you started is living out there without you pushing it all the time. write letters. proceed to the next chapter for a little more detail about project writeups and managing them from a perspective that views them all as consistently contributing to your life purpose. I purposely use the same language repetitively to emphasize the close relation between my purpose and activity.S. you were born or what nation you live in. It is so much fun it will test your tolerance for joy.three projects in the domain of Hero's Journey. Now you try it. for every ten letters one response. Project Development Stages The stages of development of our projects are important to know because they determine the management style we want to use to be the most effective in each stage. •The Concentration phase is when you start making the project happen. contact people. After completing that work.nr . You give the writeup to your committed listener. Concentration. and from the Mastery of Empowerment course that used to be taught by Werner Erhard and Associates. and take initial actions. •Stability is when you are humming along in a constant dependable fashion. you may have hired some help or found some helpers to assist you with the project. Stability. and four in Communities of Practice. send emails. 22. Your choices are Formulation. Once they are ingrained in me. It means the state of evolution of your project. You spend half your time planning. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. and doing all the activities articulated in the project writeup. I have just completed a Radical Honesty Workshop and have learned about noticing versus thinking. You have on hand the information he wants. You need to have time for planning to anticipate momentum.nr .co. that is a breakthrough. Management Style for Each Stage of Project Development •During Formulation. The writeup is a synthesis of many peoples' experience of the evolution of projects when they become intentional creators for the first time. •Managing for Breakthrough is done by maintaining stability. I have to admit I have no clue what my purpose on this planet is and I am relieved to know I'll have some help figuring this out. momentum. However. and my Vision for my projects project. Our management style changes to doing less ourselves and handing more off and developing systems and people we can depend on to keep building the project. calls when you didn't expect it. reporting on what they are handling to you and everyone else. people report results to you and to each other and get your newest vision and plans for the future. Have less frequent meetings of a little longer duration with people being responsible for whole areas. Story of my Personality.jagia-07146. The Story Of An Evolving Project This is a fictional project to show you how to advance from the first stage of development (formulation) through the intermediate stages of development (concentration. For example. (Any similarity between events depicted in this writeup and actual events is purely coincidental. or with Concentration?) •When you hit Stability. Background Commitment to my projects project. Have frequent short meetings with your helper or helpers. After some grueling exercises and me firing up parts of my brain that I never knew existed. Get someone to start helping you here. Pay them or make an exchange of services. hand off some of the authority for many of the details. No animals were harmed or killed in the writing of this story. When you do participate.) The Beginning (8/15/96) My name is Paul. with short-range commitments and short range accountability. •During the Concentration phase. does the last sentence belong here.S. when we are in the Concentration stage we are working to create momentum by talking to people. With my newly found honesty gland. Over the course of a few years. when we move into momentum we need to hand off and systematize ways of responding to the responses. you will be contacting other people. ***BRAD. and stability) to the final stage (breakthrough). 23. writing. a plan to build a simple dog house becomes a multimillion dollar empire. you can work alone and get your project in some readable and understandable form. some meetings should be happening without you present. It looks like this. •When you hit Momentum and things start coming back at you in larger quantities. I write my Purpose. When the President of the U.reminds you to reexamine your management style. A request for information comes in and the pre-arranged packet is sent out followed by a phone call. "Paul?" says my boss from the laboratory. gastrointestinal talents. nice. I want to build things that shelter others. Family is the house and life I share with my wife Arnelda. Vocation is the domain of all projects relating to my work and experience Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. My life is to serve people by building and providing. I'm going to flip this on its head by expressing myself by building things that support others in being more fully alive. I provide for people and animals around me so that I will be liked and accepted. I look at the fine log construction. I will support my people and the animals in their lives. care for animals. a fire blazing in front of me. Animal Farm. Pictures of the State Champion dogs I have raised over the years line the walls. My sons Obie and Phrederick. The skills I have created by being a provider will serve me. I drink it and taste its chocolatey goodness. but I keep silent even when I'm feeling angry or happy. climbing under furniture. I choose to do what I have been condemned to do. "Nice job on the design for the new buttocks pad for rodeo steer riders. Vision and Fuel for my Umbrella Project I am sitting in a big room. The phone rings." I smile as I hang up the phone. my children Obie. My wife Arnelda comes out of the kitchen and hands me a mug of fragrant hot chocolate. I consider myself a good worker.nr . Their children are everywhere. caring for animals. talking to each other. and our grandchildren. screaming. Grizzy. and associated fencing. Domains The domains of my life are Family. good looks. good looks. I will not serve them. I will create a home for myself and family. Background Commitment to the Umbrella Project I commit to bringing about a world in which all beings are more fully alive. Blivet and Phrederick. and Vocation. I am warm. breaking things. be radically honest. grow things.co. I answer. I'm also a pretty good card player. I don't talk much because there usually isn't much need for it. gastrointestinal talents. I hide my feelings behind silence. My Story of My Personality My theory is that I was raised in a way that led me to be a provider. and cooking. and being radically honest to bring about a world in which all beings are more fully alive. My tools will be my hands. This includes my genuine log house. and a trustworthy friend. and create projects. The skills I developed were working with my hands. growing things. and happiness by building things. Animal Farm is the domain of all projects relating to the sixty-three and a half acres I own in Muldownee County. I will build things." I answer. I think you've created a real winner here. gardening.jagia-07146. animal husbandry. I love them all. my perseverance. daughters Grizzy and Blivet are there with me. "Yes.My Purpose The purpose of my life is to use my perseverance. forty-five animals. I built the chair I am in and the house around me. and happiness. my prize Shetland Ponypoodle. one in the domain of Animal Farm. Present. State: FORMULATION…CONCENTRATION…MOMENTUM…STABILITY… BREAKTHROUGH I am in Formulation. I am committed to housing my dog Fifi in a comfortable doghouse. I feel excited and proud. background commitment. For my first project I choose to build a doghouse. domains. Paul. and one in Vocation. She is living in my laundry room and needs a home of her own. •Current Do not have doghouse built. fellow workshop graduates. My close friend Archie has an animal farm. Now that I have my umbrella project. Have Archie see doghouse. My favorite is Fifi. and Ongoing. I own a farm with a lot of animals and I am an avid dog breeder. with one project in the domain of Family. For this year I have created the umbrella project. Background Commitment: Dogs are man's very best friends. I feel proud.jagia-07146. Last March he had the prize-winning puppy at the state fair. a temperamental puremutt Shetland Ponypoodle. runs out and licks my face. "Gosh. purpose. too.nr . National Shetland Ponypoodle Association." Committed Listener: Brad Blanton Network of Support People: Archie McAullif. Domain: Animal Farm Project Name: Build the Doghouse Brief History: I have always cared for animals since I was a child. I have bunches of animals and more get born every day. Do not have doghouse painted. Archie is smiling. I own the Circle Temple Dude Farm. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.as an Ergo-Physicist for the Interbreeding Psycho Laboratory. "That's one fine doghouse you got there. Have doghouse painted. Visions: Picture 1: I'm standing before a freshly painted doghouse and see its bright colors in the sun." Archie says. I want to bring into being a doghouse that will make me proud and that I can show Archie. •Future Have doghouse built. My first writeup follows. Archie has not seen doghouse. Picture 2: My friend Archie and I are looking at the doghouse.co. Measure: Based on the dynamic tension between the present state and the future envisioned that Robert Fritz talks about in his books. and we like to share our accomplishments with each other. •Ongoing Check the air pressure in Fifi's air mattress once a week. I am ready to focus on a single project. I divide these measures into three categories: Future. John Williams. Jane Sythcliff. and the story of my personality. Fifi. It says I need to submit a form and have an inspector look at the house when it's done. and glue 9/20/96 Construct doghouse 10/5/96 Buy paint 10/15/96 Paint doghouse 10/20/96 Have inspector look at doghouse 10/21/96 Call Archie and schedule appointment 10/21/96 Have Archie see doghouse 10/30/96 Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Do not have doghouse built.jagia-07146. How this Supports My Purpose: I am committed to caring for all life in a way that will make the planet a powerful place to exist. Have doghouse built. I find the plans and get the information on how to file for a permit. Once completed. I head to the library to get some plans. Current: Do not have construction permit. Have doghouse painted. She resents me for my resentment. I clearly see where I am and where I have to go. We get over it and she offers me lots of help. construct the doghouse. Archie has not seen doghouse. Have plans. Measure: Future: Have construction permit. I update my project writeup when I get home.Description of Overall Plan (Actions): I will get a plan from the library. purchase materials.nr . and paint it. Action: Measure by When: Submit paperwork for permit 9/15/96 Go to library for plans Done Purchase lumber. my current state. nails. the librarian tells me that I'll need a construction permit for the doghouse. By When: Go to library for plans 9/7/96 Purchase lumber. My vision fuels me to bring the current to the future. Do not have doghouse painted. State: FORMULATION…CONCENTRATION…MOMENTUM…STABILITY… BREAKTHROUGH Still in formulation headed toward concentration. nails and glue 9/20/96 Construct doghouse 10/5/96 Buy paint 10/15/96 Paint doghouse 10/20/96 Call Archie and schedule appointment 10/21/96 Have Archie see doghouse 10/30/96 Date printed 8/15/96 The First Steps (8/20/96): As I look at my future measures vs. I resent her for telling me this and tell her so.co. While I am there. I will call Archie and have him see it. Have Archie see doghouse. He asks about Fifi. tells me I did a good job going to the library and suggests I reach into my network of support for information on paint schemes. After the call I'm so excited about what I've created so far that I decide to expand my Background Commitment. and an evening of touchup. so I go with that.nr . Background Commitment: Dogs are man's very best friends. go figure) and she tells me she let her dogs pick the colors. brushes.co. Do not have doghouse built. which makes my stomach a little upset. too. and start framing the doghouse. Brad. thinner. I get approval to build based on my permit application. that accomplishment goes to the Brief History section and the tasks are updated.jagia-07146. hammer nails. Do not have doghouse painted. I eat some cookies too. I've built the doghouse. I am singing. My original vision hadn't included a smashed thumb. I know Fifi's favorite color is red. I cut boards. too. I commit to bringing this message to all dog owners and creating a support network of doghouse builders throughout the world. glue. why can't all dogs live as Fifi will live? My purpose states that I will "bring about a world in which all beings are more fully alive. Explosive Growth (9/15/96): In my next conversation with Brad. I can't decide on a good color scheme. Here's how the writeup changes." I revise my project to encompass all dogs benefiting from my experience of building this doghouse. I start building. I am committed to housing my dog Fifi in a comfortable doghouse. I call Jane Sythcliff. Vision: Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. but I have this picture in my head of this doghouse and I ain't stopping for nothing. State: FORMULATION…CONCENTRATION…MOMENTUM…STABILITY… BREAKTHROUGH I am in concentration now. Have plans. With the completion of the construction. he congratulates me on finishing the construction of the doghouse. He also encourages me to think big and grow the project. nails. hammering and drinking lemonade in the hot sun. My committed listener. I go to the local Home Warehouse Emporium and purchase lumber. Have received okay to start building. Fifi yips excitedly. Archie has not seen doghouse. holistic existence. I commit to creating Fifi's house as an example of how dogs can live a happy. and red paint. Measure: Current: Have filed paperwork for permit. After a whole day of this. Momentum (9/11/96): With materials in hand. Do not have construction permit. If Fifi can have the benefits of my creating.Date printed 8/20/96 The Stuck Place (8/25/96): I submit the paperwork for the permit and feel stuck. which I appreciate him for and tell him so. but I put it in the history section because projects don't always come out exactly as you envision them and I want to remember it. I am in action contacting people and doing things. half an afternoon at the emergency room for a hammer-smashed thumbnail. Here's how the writeup changes. Filled with energy. who has built three doghouses herself (even though she only has two dogs. call the inspector. My eyes fill with tears. My heart is full to the bursting point. I now maintain it and continue to expand it more slowly.jagia-07146. He'd like me to write an article on the subject. I feel warm and excited. It's a house for every dog. I get a call from Penelope Pemberton who says she'd like me to come speak at the NSPA meeting after hearing about my doghouse from a friend who knew Archie's second cousin. "That's one nice doghouse. filled with passion. Stability (1/5/96): My project has brought me much joy and has grown tremendously." says the owner.Picture 3: I'm standing outdoors before a group of people and dogs who are quietly watching me. She is polite and tells me she'll consider it. I reach down and take the dog's paw. so I focus on getting it accomplished. I feel excited and proud. Note: I've changed the scope of the project. I work more on ongoing measures. Amazed at my ability to create. The new vision created some new measures. Apparently it had been going around like wildfire at Archie's family reunion that I'd built a great doghouse. I have made a difference. I speak into a microphone." I feel proud. I get a call from the director of the International Labrador Retriever Society. I call Brad and he encourages me to keep going. the dog looks at me with happy eyes and raises its paw to shake.nr . I feel a nervous energy in my throat and chest. Archie shows up and is impressed. are stacked on the table. I scribble my autograph in another copy and hand it to a person who smiles and shakes my hand. I feel excited. I revise my project. Penelope Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.co. then reluctantly awards me the permit after I give him a delicious glass of lemonade." Archie says. He is putting together an emergency bulletin on the shortage of doghouses in the world and heard that I was going to be a featured speaker at the NSPA meeting. Breakthrough (9/26/96): The inspector shows up and grouses about a lack of adequate plumbing. Doghouses for a Better World. I paint the doghouse. A day after that. I am happy. "Hey. I feel a heat in my forehead and my heart racing. Another pet owner leads a beautiful St. I revise my project. Completing Fifi's doghouse is a piece of a larger picture now. president of the local chapter of the National Shetland Ponypoodle Association (NSPA). Paul. Jane Sythcliff. I am warm. so I updated the name and background commitment and added a new vision. A week later. Without being commanded." The roar of clapping and barking is deafening. John Williams. Network of Support: Archie McAullif. I'm standing before the freshly painted doghouse and I see its bright colors in the sun. Fifi runs out and licks my face. "Fellow dog owners. so I call Penelope Pemberton. Vision Becomes Reality (9/21/96): I set to work. I have a picture in my head I want to share. Hundreds of copies of my new book. a land where every dog lives a happy life. ensuring Fifi is taken care of and spreading my message about the benefits of doghouse life. and call Archie. Bernard up to the table. Vision: Picture 4: I am sitting at a table surrounded by people clamoring for my attention. "Freckles just wanted to say thank you. and tell her I'd like to speak at the next meeting. work with you.nr Part Four How to Speak and Listen Your Projects into Being Introduction to Part Four . teach you. Basset Guitar Players Fellowship. Clarity of formulation changes your listening. I slept. All the work of writing a project outline is only preparation for the act of creation itself. which is to have an effect on how you speak and listen in the real world of human interaction. is different from what you heard before you designed the project. or finish my public activities and live happily knowing that I've done my part. In your daily life. Ultimately. What you hear. The whole writeup system was for one purpose. They would not show up Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. overhear on the subway. I know I have the power to move in any direction I want. What it takes to live the life of an artist is ongoing honest communication and completion and action consistent with your vision. work for you. Believe it or not. The whole process of creating projects consistent with your life purpose is also for one reason. National Shetland Ponypoodle Association. •Refresh the paint on Fifi's house once every six months. Measures: Future: Have written and submitted book proposal for Doghouses for a Better World. I played. have you work for them—all in ways consistent with your project objectives. once you have completed the design of a project. listening is more important. most of the people you know want just about the same thing you want. Have not submitted. I woke up. start a doghouse consulting business. Projects are brought into being by speaking and listening. •Conduct tours of Fifi's doghouse once a month. •Speak at a dog lovers' group once a month. A variety of people show up to help you. your projects depend mostly on how you contact other people and how you talk and listen to them.co. The Future: I can reevaluate my project and decide to split off my writing and speaking career into a different project. Current: Have written book proposal. fellow workshop graduates. Of the two. which is to have an effect on how you speak and listen. •Write a journal article once every three months. You want to contact other people in such a way that you get their attention and enroll them in helping you bring your vision into being. Having created what I have.jagia-07146. and generally pay attention changes once you have completed your project writeups. watch television. Ongoing: •Check the air pressure in Fifi's air mattress once a week. what you notice when you read. National Pekinese Dancing Association.Pemberton. Then I did it all over again. 23. Creating a Context for you had you not clearly conceptualized your projects and your life purpose and your wisdom about the patterns of survival in your own life. When you speak about what you have noticed and what you have heard, your speaking is in the context of the projects you have created and contributes to the accomplishment of those projects by getting a conversation started that has a life of its own. People keep talking about your vision and your work when you aren't there. You become more and more articulate as the conversation goes on because you get more and more information and more and more practice articulating your goals. Your vision gets built up and elaborated on by the conversation. Eventually, you have a series of laser statements about what you are about in life. These are clear and articulate sound bytes that people get immediately, remember, and repeat to other people and back to you. These come naturally from practice in speaking while you are focused on your intentions and creations. You learn through practice how to speak so people will listen and listen so people will speak. I recommend a number of books, including The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron and Creating and The Path of Least Resistance by Robert Fritz. You can find a list of books, websites, and workshops at the end of this book. In 1977, Werner Erhard started a project to end starvation on the planet by the year 2000, and he wrote a brochure. In 1978 the brochure was publicized, clearly defining the objectives of what the founders had named the Hunger Project. This is possibly the best brochure written during the twentieth century. In this unlikely place—the middle pages of a brochure —there occurred what seems to me one of the most brilliant syntheses of the twentieth century's evolution of thought in linguistics, philosophy, and the study of the mind. A segment of that brochure follows: "What causes an idea's time to come?" When you know the answer to that, you are no longer a mere speck of protoplasm on a dustball hurtling through space. You know how to make an impact on the world. You know what can make your life matter. The answer to "What causes an idea's time to come?" is what the Hunger Project is all about. The Hunger Project is not about doing something more to end hunger. It is not about doing something better to end hunger. It is not a different set of solutions to the problem of hunger. It is simply about causing the end of hunger and starvation on this planet to be an idea whose time has come. The people who enroll themselves in the project commit themselves to that. What they do will be derived from that commitment. The question, "What causes an idea's time to come?" belongs to a particular class of question. Its answer is not the normal and conventional, reasonable type of descriptive or explanatory statement that a mind likes, that we are used to handling. It is not an exposition, concept or theory. The Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr answer to this class of question is, instead, a principle more powerful than all the forces in the world. To answer this class of question, you have to give up your normal way of arriving at answers. Rather than knowing more and then more as you go along, you will need instead to be willing to know less and less—that is to say, to become somewhat more confused as you go along. Finally you will have struggled enough to be clear that you don't know. In the state of knowing that you don't know, you get, as a flash of insight, the principle (i.e., the abstraction) out of which the answer comes. While this is work that transcends ordinary intellect, all it requires is an unusually high degree of openness, commitment and intention. You will need these qualities to get you past the impatience, frustration and confusion that almost certainly will result from the feeling that what you are reading doesn't make any sense. In fact, the statement we are seeking isn't sensible; it transcends the senses. One doesn't test the validity of such a statement by seeing if it fits into one's system of beliefs. The test is whether there is a resulting shift from controversy, frustration and gesturing to mastery, movement and completion. Answers in this class are fundamental principles; they are the source of parts, rather than the product of parts. They come as a whole, which whole can then be divided into pieces. You cannot reach the whole by adding up pieces; obviously the pieces don't even exist as pieces until there is a whole of which to be a piece. Answers in this class— fundamental principles—can be known only by creating them. Causing an idea's time to come What causes an idea's time to come? An idea's time comes when the state of its existence is transformed from content to context. As a content, an idea expresses itself as, or takes the form of, a position. A position is dependent for its very existence on other positions; positions exist only in relation to other positions. The relationship is one of agreement or disagreement with other positions. This agreement or disagreement manifests itself in various forms. For example, your position is similar to, cooperates with, or supports other positions; it is independent from or ignores other positions; it protests, conflicts with, or opposes other positions. Positions exist by virtue of contrast, such as being different from, or more than, or unrelated to, or better than other positions. A position cannot stand by itself; it is not self-sufficient. To come at this from another direction, we can look at content as a thing, because an idea as a position is a thing. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr That which is without limits is either everything or nothing, and therefore not something, not a thing. It follows then that a thing requires limits to exist. These limits are expressed as the boundary of that thing. Since the existence of a thing is dependent on its boundary, and a boundary, by definition, is that place between a thing and not-that-thing, (i.e., something else), the existence of a thing is dependent on something else. Therefore a thing, a content, is dependent on something outside itself for existence. Content is not selfsufficient. Context is not dependent on something outside itself for existence; it is whole and complete in itself and, as a function of being whole, it allows for, it generates parts—that is to say, it generates content. Content is a piece, a part of the whole; its very nature is partial. Context is the whole; its nature is complete. When an idea exists as a position—when it is a content— then it is an idea whose time has not come. When an idea's time has not come, whatever you do to materialize or realize that idea does not work. When an idea's time has not come, you have a condition of unworkability in which what you do doesn't work, and you don't do what works. When an idea is transformed from content to context, then it is an idea whose time has come. When an idea is transformed from existence as a position to existence as a space, then it is an idea whose time has come. Now an idea as a position literally requires other positions for its existence, while an idea as space is both self-sufficient, requiring nothing else in order to exist, and allows for—is the space of—the existence of other ideas. When an idea is transformed from existing as a function of other ideas to being the space that allows all other ideas, then it is an idea whose time has come. When an idea is transformed from content to context, then it is an idea whose time has come. Creating a context; putting a man on the moon Contexts are created by the Self, out of nothing. When you stop identifying yourself as a thing, as a position, and start experiencing your Self as the context, as the space, for your life—when you start experiencing that you are the context in which the content of your life occurs—you will automatically and necessarily experience responsibility for all the content in your space. You will experience that you are whole and complete and that you are aligned with other Selves, with the Self. When you experience your Self as space, you create contexts from which you can come into the world. One such context is the end of hunger and starvation on our planet Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr within two decades. You are probably not yet clear about what context is—at least not how it works—so we'll use an example. On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy initiated a context when he told Congress: "This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." By creating the context, "A man on the moon in 10 years," Kennedy transformed space travel from merely a good idea —which had not succeeded despite considerable attempts, the feasibility of which had been questioned, argued, and discussed—into an idea whose time had come. The result of what Kennedy did can be understood by analogy. It is as if he created a building named, "A man on the moon in ten years," and inside that building he put offices for all the various ideas, positions, notions and people that had to do with space flight. The first office inside the front door of the building in 1961 would have been called, "It can't be done." This office would have been inhabited by the skeptics and cynics. A content or position can be threatened by any opposite position. Given two opposing positions only one can survive. On the other hand, a context gives space to, it literally allows, it even encourages, positions that are apparently opposite. In fact, the most important position in a newly created context is the position which appears to oppose the context. It is important to get that opposing positions actually contribute to establishing a context. In the case of the civil rights movement during the 1960's, for example, all those people who opposed civil rights for blacks actually contributed to creating a national dialogue that demonstrated to the country that the issue could no longer be ignored. Every government official in the South who stood in the doorway of a school and prevented black children from entering had been a cause, a part of the persistence, of the problem, of the oppression. After the creation of a context—"equal rights and dignity for blacks"— the very same action that had been a part of the problem's persistence became an action contributing to the end of legal discrimination against minority races. Then, every such action contributed to an increased awareness of the issue, to the passage of civil rights legislation, and to the gradual change in attitude that ultimately evidenced itself in the recognition that civil rights was an idea whose time had come. In a newly-created context the most important position is the position, "It can't be done." That is the first and most Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr nr . the position. The number of children dying from starvation has decreased but not been eliminated. Every action taken in a context is a fulfillment of.important content to be processed. thirty years later. the writing of books and articles. the coordination of all the relief agencies of the world and all their efforts. These results have brought us closer to our goal but we have not succeeded in the time we originally allotted ourselves. did eventually help bring about an end to that war. (The Hunger Project brochure. Context generates process. so that instead of being a threat or a stop to the goal. suddenly their skepticism and cynicism started contributing to the achievement of the goal." the skeptics and cynics were working on "it can't be done" in the context of doing it. A contextually-generated process transcends the existing forces. an expression of. which I participated in from 1963 to 1972. Then the aligned forces provide a condition of workability. the growth of UNICEF. (There are still thirty-six separate secret services in the Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. 1978) I have been a member of the Hunger Project for twenty-three years. The pessimism. At this writing there are seven months left. the production of television specials. "It can't be done. and many. The civil rights movement. process in turn grinds up content. there has been general acknowledgment that it was a terrible mistake just as we said it was then. the cynicism.co. then it is an idea whose time has come. But the ongoing use of the military so-called solutions like the Gulf War and NATO's war on Serbia of recent times reflects that the context of secrecy and force has not been effectively brought to an end.jagia-07146. Anyone who has created a context knows that context generates process. to be realigned. many other events. When an idea is transformed so that the apparently opposing idea actually validates and gives expression to the idea." are ground up by the process generated by the context. the creation of Results (the political lobbying group that grew out of the Hunger Project0. Hunger and starvation are still ongoing. Kennedy's context resulted in a man on the moon in eight years. But the overall context of equality of races is still not accomplished. the creation of Band Aid and Live Aid. it transforms those forces. In the building of "A man on the moon in 10 years. The anti-Vietnam War movement. An incredible number of events have resulted from millions of us holding the context: the banding together of artists and musicians and athletes and politicians. had by that time resulted in the passage of legislation that outlawed desegregation. it changes content so that it becomes aligned with the context. Now. and a manifestation of that context. A contextually-generated process aligns the existing forces within the context. which I was active in from 1959 to 1964. All the forces of the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come. and are transformed into the material out of which the result is achieved. jagia-07146. be twisted all to hell by politicians and military folks who call us forth to our shared vision and then rip us off by playing adolescent war games. The vision can. A life spent creating new possibilities for people that allow them freedom and power they have never known before is a vision we can and do all share. then likely. Think of your own sweet self.) As Marianne Williamson says in The Healing of America. and that you understand the difference between taking a position about what "should" be in the world and creating a context within which what you want to create becomes possible. consciously created by declaration with others. So when you design your life and write your projects. 25. It makes all the difference there is to be made in the world.nr . think big. and government departments that play the world like a giant chessboard and view it as no more than a game we're trying to win. the being you are. the time for an end to forcible solutions is long past due. Clarity of formulation changes your listening. which is to have an effect on how the project author speaks and listens out there in the real world of human interaction. Life Purpose and Projects as Context The life lived.co. and has been. Join with others of us who are transforming the world to help us and those we are helping. "We shouldn't be over impressed by terms like 'foreign policy'. and then a reality.military and the government and almost a quarter of the entire national budget for the United States is still being completely squandered on the military industrial complex. Then think of your mind's vision of the future as the context within that context and bring your vision into being. Have whatever doghouse you come up with eventually lead to transformation of the world. as the context in which the whole world occurs. huge secretive counterintelligence agencies. is the most wonderful life possible. Isn't It? Now What? Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. The context for a nation that was envisioned in the Declaration of Independence generated the United States as an idea whose time had come. It is time we recaptured from those more limited folks the methodology and responsibility for bringing that vision into being. their consciousness shouldn't drive us. The whole writeup system was for one purpose. The act of creation requires that you operate in alignment with others. but in the minds of many hundreds of thousands of us. as a context within which the events of life occur. Our consciousness should drive them." The completion of the results for any context is hard to achieve on a specific timetable. All the work of writing a project is only preparation for the act of creation itself because a project creates a context so that creation through speaking and listening about it can occur. Contact and Context How we contact other people—in such a way that we get their attention and learn about what they are engaged in and committed to—and the way we enroll them in helping us bring our vision into being is something that can be learned through planning and practice. It's A Lot Of Work To Make A New Story. They will become our reality. in a rapture of distress. The only record of your hard work is in your mind and the minds of your best friends. One of the things we know about us human beings is we live in a story. Then burn all the copies you have of your project writeups. the transcendence is temporary because we fall back into the waiting arms and contexts of the cult of which we are members. now that you have thought hard and know how to speak and listen about your life projects so that you get a lot of help from other people. abandoned. Lose your seriousness. Keep no written records of your work.. Talk with your compatriots about the futility of human life. Get in touch with the meaninglessness of life. Become a village idiot. interrupted. Make copies of your project writeups and give them to your committed listeners. overthrown.co.nr ." Make a big party out of the despair. retired. We seldom come out of our stories. now that you have done all that work and made a good big crazy plan.H. The only possibility of anyone else ever knowing what you are up to is your speaking and your listening and theirs. The only possible way of modifying the direction of the cultural flow that constantly sweeps us toward its own ends is to make a new cult of friends who know better than to believe the lies of the current overcult. now that you are organized. because we know that our beliefs are not reality and we are not trying to make them real anymore.Now that you've got your new story straight. We not only have to overcome the culture into which we were born and in which our personal stories of survival developed. The only path left to follow is the only path there is to follow—the path of your own creation…if you could just remember what it was. "Sing of human unsuccess. The big story turned out to be an illusion. Erase all the content parts on your computer. The mind is a stone cold cultmaker. let's kill the outline of your dream.now what? Now you have to commit a kind of suicide. The mind is just a tool to tool around with. The only written copies of the elements of your dream are in the hands of your committed listeners. but we also have to overcome the tool all cults get built with—a thing called the mind. but happier work. As W. Become a futilitarian. When the cult in our minds is transcended with enough awareness and enough work. Auden said of William Yeats in his ode to him upon the occasion of his death. put on probation. We act according to whatever big story (called a culture) we are born into. let it hit you. inhibited. It must be frequently deposed. Laugh at the futility of creating meanings in life. according to methods of image survival we developed from the dysfunctional families made up of unhappy people trying to live up to the cultural story they were born into. suspended. That is a lot of work. Celebrate the futility of all your efforts. I just mean. fired. when they were led to believe it was reality by their parents and teachers and other intimate cult brainwashers. I don't mean kill yourself literally. Do this. Nothing Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. What have you done? The morning after.. Look at what fools we all are.jagia-07146. Look at what a fool you are. Burn your plans. But watch out. They were unhappy because the big story didn't fit reality. or a carpenter. Legislators who are attached to tradition are ignoramuses. We are a cult and we plan to take over the world. here is what you do. So. Send off sub-parts to your committed listeners. We will burn that later. Erase the contents from your computer. New energy only comes from getting over beliefs. Our human stories tell us what it is to be a human being. once every six months. Have a good life playing with this now. throw away. But remember. What we are transcending is the normal life of being lost in the mind. in his book. Do a good thorough job.nr . Keep the structured headings. When we do that we have to change the world. The heroes journey goes roughly like this: A very unlikely being (like a hobbit.jagia-07146. . and throw away—or build. what he called the Monomyth.co. Overthrow the government each time it forms. Never mind. Most people die from not emptying the trash. Well. Joseph Campbell. dreams and stories of all the cultures of mankind. but somebody keep track and remind the rest of us in six months or so. Write up your projects and your umbrella project every six months. and designing our lives consciously together using paradigms we build. and act on. Keep this book. It doesn't take much in this day and age to know that. do it all over again in June. forget it. Read it over carefully one last time and make the final corrections that make it almost perfect. the universal theme that is to be found in human literature. Don't ever forget that. I'll remind you again later if you'll do the same for me.any mind has ever produced is sacred. if you want to be a card-carrying member of our cult. An overcult is what you put on to go out into the cold weather out there amongst the true believers. If you write up all your projects thoroughly in January and then destroy them. Part Five: Paradigms And Contexts: The Revolution Of Consciousness Introduction to part five This section is a kind of summary about transcendence. Once you have a big backlog of beliefs. go ahead and forget it. The hero must Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. the prince of evil. A cult is a baby culture. Orthodoxy is the enemy. you are in danger of going dead forever.refined from reading all the holy books. Our minds are inclined to become attached to the jail of belief out of cowardice and fatigue. at a minimum. In order to accomplish this task the hero must venture into the unknown. our revolutions come. Send the umbrella project to your committed listener or listeners. etc. We take advantage of the shoulders we have been allowed to stand upon to see into the future with and we keep our species going and defining itself as homo creatus. myths. This is how we change the world: by staying grounded in our experience in the here and now through practices focused on noticing. We like to call this the cult of cults or the overcult. or a carpenter's son. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. act on. Burn your card every six months. Don't ever forget it. dragons.). The entrance to the unknown is always guarded by terrifying beings (gargoyles. I invite you to live among the outlaws. Come on into our cult of cults. etc. telling the truth and listening to our friends and helping them.) has laid upon him the task of saving his kind. Then burn it. nr . psychologically. dealing respectively with social role performance. conducted by members of the University of Chicago Committee on Human Development in collaboration with Community Studies. The hero we now needs aborning is a group. Inc." In the Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.. golden fleece. win his way through. Moreover. Normal The following paragraphs are excerpts from Genetic Psychology Monographs.co. paralleled sample of people aged 40 to 65 or 70…Middle age is at once the fruit of earlier life and the foreshadower of the later years. For such reasons. Finally. 26. and venture into the unknown. for Americans between 50 and 65. So much has been studied of childhood and youth. while it has frequently been observed that adjustment to old age is adumbrated by one's way of life in middle age. but nothing is like it used to be.) and bring it back into the world of the known. social status and social mobility. The past is dead and the world will never be the same. multi-national corporations and a world economic order with immense power to destroy lives at the blink of an eye. unlikely though they may be. this study was undertaken: to find out what life is like. get the silver chalice. We unlikely heroes must bring back to the world of the known the wisdom needed to make a new world. Facing them is the first step to winning through to the unknown. "This study of personal adjustment was part of the Kansas City Study of Adult Life. sex.answer the call by facing the demons at the gate. The double spaces between paragraphs mean that some significant portion of the over 80-page report has been skipped in this attempt to summarize the highlights. and socioeconomic status. how personal adjustment—mental health—is related to age.jagia-07146. and what qualities of personality distinguish the "successful adjuster" and the "unsuccessful adjusters. to all of us who live through these years. but life can go on. After that. Now the time has come for us to have a new kind of hero. There he must attain something (throw the ring in the fire. and attitudes toward the process of growing older during the adult years. This was the first significant social psychological study of normalcy for grownup people. Four parallel studies were made. life during the middle years is of no little interest in itself. it is surprising how little scientific research has been devoted to the consequences of earlier development on the adjustments people make in the middle years. holy of holies. of Kansas City during the years 1952-55. The Study of Adult Life was aimed at developing methods of studying middle-aged people that would give knowledge of that part of the life-cycle comparable with our knowledge of childhood and adolescence. etc. personality structure and change. the observation has not been systematic. The demons at the gate are fearsome. to save the world of human beings. the world is saved. There is now the need for a kind of heroic union of human beings. Each of the four studies was made with a separate. To know for the first time. big and little.. a test was planned of the validity and utility of certain projective analyses. Perhaps most men—and women—do lead lives of quiet desperation. the tremendous sorrow of engulfing tragedy—these are not strange to the typical American. and all beyond one's comprehension to identify. despite thousands of individual case studies in past years. and our never-will be's.jagia-07146. life is not really a matter for despair. More typical is a quiet. On the contrary. has lived with them and is living with their echoes. as well as a number of smaller places and some open farming country. probably-appropriate people to interview. encountered by few people. slightly puzzled sense of some things lacking. an area of four counties in Missouri and Kansas. While recognizing the limitations of representational sampling. which included the cities of Kansas City (Missouri) and Kansas City (Kansas).. Certainly.nr . or she. when one sadly muses that perhaps Thoreau was literally right. and we are decidedly not happy at the many moments when we think about our losses. in one metropolitan area. The selection of people was done on a stratified random pattern. using census data to locate. our disappointments. or one's skill to remedy… For more than half of us. life is a matter of settling for a good deal less than we want. the tempest of unreasoning passion.process. we've known it for years. he and she pride themselves on "making Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. life is never brilliantly happy. For such of us. that this is at last a completely representative sample of our people—this is a unique experience… What is the "normal" person like? There are times. We know it. Unalloyed joy is an unknown or forgotten sensation. the chaos of bewilderment. as a method of measuring personality and adjustment… The study was made by interviewing 118 people. it was hoped that some reasonably stable generalizations might be drawn concerning the mental health and happiness of middle aged Americans… What is a Normal Person? It is at once a sobering and a thoughtstirring experience to become intimately acquainted with any group of people. in studying case after case. Too many hurts. He. The joy of utter mastery of life? This is a rare experience. some spots of grey where colors ought to be. 60 men and 58 women. have chipped the bright colors away… Yet for this "almost average" American. the whine of years-long unhappiness. geographically.co. who lived in greater Kansas City. " the winsome. If they don't have nearly the love. It is to marry in haste. We want "perfect" happiness. an aging but agile Don Juan. When a beloved parent dies. and make their way. a profoundly religious deacon of the church… What is it to be "normal"? It is to be unreasonable with one's spouse. Indeed. the man of affairs. As far as all experience indicates. without some hard-hitting frustration or some profound sorrow. "perfect" peace of mind. or stature. or a just-grown child—what door of escape is there? There is no way out of the grief except to live through it. wholesome. It is to get drunk every week for years. they don't sink into self-pity. It is to spend money foolishly. with which to meet each day… Our respondents have covered every gamut. dimly but proudly felt. half inept.co. all your life wishing you'd finished school and gone into law. but sincere way to make it up. yet try in a fumbling. of the person who makes his own place in life. mental and physical. living in restricted circumstances. This may not be a very "scientific" way to end a scientific report. and what is more. an ex-convict. Are there completely happy people? No.. and has been. a more shaded kind is still attainable. still flapping seductively after 20 years.. the poor but honest serving woman who is putting her four children through high school. or pleasure. We find no one whose life is. for example. If bright happiness is out of reach.jagia-07146. the jolly blacksmith and his wife. Above all. and marry five years later to a person you love all the rest of your life. or security their hearts hunger for. the best one can reasonably ask for is good health. then work hard to stretch what's left till payday. a dirt filled house. several times a week. slatternly wife with a loud guffaw. divorce in haste. then "get religion" and stop drinking. yet proud of your 25 years of service. the "social butterfly" of Society Hill.nr . who "glitters when he walks. and many more have needed years to heal the scars… Sometimes it seems as if we ask too much of life and of ourselves. along with all the present data. "perfect" mental health. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. the longwidowed relic of a Continental nobleman. and a craze for baseball. Depression and devastating flood once swept away the economic roots and the psychological roots of many of these people in Kansas City. they do get along. start doing church work.out. a raffish." and "getting along". It is to work all your life as a railroad man. happy housewife (even she has known prostrating sorrow for her first husband committed suicide after military service). a roster of them sounds like the cast of an overcrowded "Our Town": the burned-out shell of a man. or children. the "world's best cook" and sternest housekeeper. there is the self-respect. The wisdom of feeling one's way through to resolution of life's unavoidable hurts is hinted at but not quite fully acknowledged in the report. What is the Norm of Suffering from which Greater and Lesser Suffering Deviate? I have always loved that beautiful piece of writing by Robert Peck. prototypes.jagia-07146. Our goal. is the courage and persistence human beings can manifest in the face of loss. It is time to create a new paradigm in any human culture when the value of fulfilling cultural expectations is generally held to be Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.nr . contexts. archetypes—and we have developed a kind of hierarchy for how some contexts subsume or are subsumed by other ones. 27. We can get systematic about this. normal American. because I think that perspective is the most critical element of the ability to transcend suffering. Contexts are transcendent perspectives created by taking an honest look at the way our lives are and envisioning new ways to live and be together. We have lots of different names for transcendent perspectives—models. These cultures become the context in which children are raised. conducted with some care and expense over forty years ago in the very middle of the twentieth century. When any individual wakes up and meets other individuals who have awakened. and then going on. based on the perspective given me by my teachers and clients over the forty years since it was written. What stands out for me in the lives described in the study. having worked our way through without avoidance. is a transcendent vision for a new political and economic order based on a greater wisdom than just one culture's limited view. as an end result of the wisdom we have discovered through sharing and thinking together. We probably cannot conquer suffering but we can surely use it to create less of it. it is a direct translation of the evidence on what it means to be a typical. Models that are agreed upon by a large group of people create cultures.but on the other hand. We can surely get through it and over it more efficiently by being willing to face and feel our way through what comes to us because we have a transcendent perspective and a community of support that allows us to love on. It is that picture of mental health upon which we have to improve if the lives of even the average economically better-off people in the world are to have less suffering. That study. Creating A New Paradigm By Creating A New Context In An Old Paradigm Paradigms are models of the mind.co. The most powerful benefit of that report is the perspective of the study itself. A Transcendent Perspective and Community The final part of this book is a focus on perspective. is a believable report on normalcy at that time. our life together in community is one of constantly giving each other transcendent perspectives. What also stands out is the possibility we all have of getting through and getting over things by facing into them completely and fully experiencing what life brings even when it hurts real bad. paradigms. The leaders of what has been called the recovery movement and their interpreters are on the leading edge of the revolution of consciousness. and the number of addicted people reflects the degree to which the paradigms they are living in don't fit. Cultures live in the minds of individuals. they also lead our whole culture of sufferers to see that the paradigms we live in don't work and that's why we are all suffering. the "recovery movement. Currently. has the best description of the dilemma of our current time in history that I have ever read.more important than the quality of life of the individuals themselves. School and Culture Violate Our Human Potential. Cultures are collectively reinforced through the common conversation people live in. Breton and Largent say. using cultural paradigms. we are capable of suffering more quickly. it causes suffering because models of reality are not to be mistaken for reality—they are just a way of dealing with reality. Not only do they end their victimization by addictions through a transcendent perspective. When paradigms become ill-fitting enough. Global Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. more intensely. but do not substitute my use of their wisdom for their full brilliance. The Paradigm Conspiracy: How Our Systems of Government. I will refer to The Paradigm Conspiracy frequently and paraphrase some of its contents. We are also being provided more opium than ever before by the guardians of the old paradigm. the suffering they cause exceeds their usefulness. in the information age. Go buy that book and read it. systems thinking shows that a global explosion of addictions doesn't happen because of a few bad apples. "Applied to addictions. they will change the paradigm. When enough human beings suffer intensely as a result of the bad fit of the paradigms they use to interpret the experience of being alive.co. The need for painkillers and the need to dissociate through ritual avoidances of commonplace experience can be taken as evidence of ill-fitting paradigms. whenever "roles come before souls." it is time for a new look at what we are doing. Unless there is enough opium for the masses. Read that book to catch up on the current state of paradigm crashes and to learn about the paradigm called "paradigms. People become addicted to drugs and habit patterns as a way to avoid suffering. This works okay only briefly and when it doesn't work anymore. Suffering and stress is caused by the minds of the individuals who are suffering and under stress. Or as Denise Breton and Christopher Largent say in The Paradigm Conspiracy. Church.nr ." The Paradigm Conspiracy comes from. and is written for. The absolutely brilliant book by Denise Breton and Christopher Largent. thereby maintaining the culture and supporting the paradigms of their forefathers as though they are what is real." The authors clearly describe how people who have suffered from addictions of all kinds have learned to overcome them by telling the truth and joining together in a new culture of support. We are living in the most speeded-up time of paradigm breakdowns in the history of humankind because we are communicating more about our suffering.jagia-07146. neither are people in pain defective oddities. and more frequently from outdated paradigms than ever before in history. Children are taught to interpret their experience of being. a revolution occurs. As E. Cormac McCarthy. there are a lot of miserable junkies at the top as well. Marilyn Ferguson. "Hey! I don't have to put up with this crap!" And then. and bring down the old paradigm. There are system causes and. Cummings tried to tell us. belief systems that people in families live by that don't work and cause suffering and alienation for most of the members. the top-down or power-over model of control from the top. authors. Chris Kristofferson. Werner Erhard. public speakers. songwriters. and so it goes. fifty-one of them are not nations. They are good people who have lived and learned and shared what they have learned. didn't really start out seeing themselves as revolutionaries trying to overthrow the government. behind them. Denise Breton and Christopher Largent. Of the one hundred largest economies in the world. unbelievable unwieldiness. Sam Keen. is reflected in the world economic structure.jagia-07146. shouting "Hey! We don't have to put up with this crap! We're not putting up with this crap anymore!" These people then become a new family.co. journalists and people at large. John Bradshaw. Neale Donald Walsch and many other artists.substance addiction into the trillions of dollars is not an anomalous event. Deepak Chopra. They have shown us that dysfunctional family systems. We have already developed the world economic system to a point of ridiculous. They all join together. Dolly Parton. authors of books like this one. As Largent and Breton point out. When clients in my therapy practice and people in my workshops catch on to how their families have conspired to control and manage them. "Hey! I'm not putting up with this crap anymore!" Then they mostly like hanging out with people who have made the same discovery.nr . It is based on making more and more money for fewer and fewer people and doesn't fit to serve anyone well in the system generated by that paradigm. scriptwriters. we all live in one enormous room. Scott Peck. the followers of various spiritual teachers. Giant corporations now control enough of the world's resources to determine the direction of the use of all resources. corporate trainers and many others are now synthesizing and broadcasting the wisdom that will create the new. The most obvious paradigm. practitioners of holistic medicine. usually dysfunctional in some new way. Some of the best American spokespeople like M. some of the psychotherapy and self-help movement. Addiction sounds the alarm. The top two hundred corporations have combined sales of over seven trillion dollars —greater than the combined Gross National Product of all but nine of the largest nations and more than the combined economies of one hundred eighty-two Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. a revelation dawns on them that is usually expressed this way. but corporations. teachers. The rich are getting richer and proportionately fewer every day. Tom Robbins. Marianne Williamson. The best chance that those on top of the world economic structure have to survive is the illegal drug trade and the pharmaceutical industry—the masses need a lot of opium these days." The recovery movement. We're acting out in our own lives and on each other what it's like to be in systems that are soul-abusive by nature. apply not only to little nuclear families and fragmented families but to towns and states and nations and the big world family. E. paradigm causes. The small number of individual people who are billionaires control more resources than the poorer half of all the nations of the world. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. The whole world—made up of little local new dysfunctional families—is going to have to change its economy so we don't have to suffer in the old ways and can come up with new ways to suffer instead.nations! As pointed out earlier. Witness the growth of such child-care chains as Crème de la Crème. Ltd. All of us want just about the same thing. Marianne Williamson has showed the world to us in clearly understandable terms: "If we could. In Canada) says that local currency systems will someday replace international money for about forty percent of the total accounted economy. We may even learn how to decrease suffering by decreasing our attachment to whatever models we come up with. it would look like this: •There would be 57 Asians. Local groups of people governing themselves on the fringe and doing okay in caring for each others' needs—like the government of Denmark—can be largely their own economy and more separate from the world economy. The parents think earning money is the way to take care of their kids. Everyone suffers because the paradigm they are living in doesn't work. Let's get clear about where we are and then about where we want to be. All 6 would be citizens of the United States. Hey! We don't have to put up with this crap! Whatayasay we stop putting up with this crap? We are going to have to start over again on a new economy right away. Every 30 minutes. We have to locally come up with a transition economy of new paradigm people on the local level—something like communal visa cards and communal bank accounts or communal money. •70 would be non-Christian. shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people. 30 Christian. The kids suffer from not being with their parents and the parents suffer by missing out on one of the primary joys of life: sharing being with their children.jagia-07146. Michael Linton (of Landsman Community Services. We all want an ecologically stable. at this time. 14 from the Western Hemisphere (North and South). We need to come up with a new.nr . with all existing human ratios remaining the same. 21 Europeans. but two people are working it while strangers raise their kids. Let's build a model for it and see what happens. Let's make this a project. •70 would be unable to read. the average workweek is seventeen hours longer than it used to be in 1954. •Fifty percent of the entire world wealth would be in the hands of only 6 people. and 8 Africans.co. toddlers are shuffled off to another classroom and a different caregiver. •70 would be nonwhite. First let's take a look at the world as it is. charging $900 or more per month. soon-to-become-dysfunctional family of our own. In the past forty years the average workweek has not only extended by seventeen hours a week. economically secure world for everybody and an opportunity for a good life for everyone in the world. 30 white. Therefore. that many of our kin in poorer circumstances do not have. Because our bodies are the only source of our aliveness. and most of our stress. massage." We. and manifesting energy in all the other ways that are not primarily thinking. This is important. Not only can we contribute. even as we grow up and develop minds. •80 would live in substandard housing. and willingness to try anything. •Only 1 would have a college education. A Sufficient Fundamental Identity–The Living Being In The Body From Moment To Moment Happiness and freedom depend upon not losing touch with the sensate being-in-the-body-in-contact-with-the-world. in schools and familying in western culture. curiosity. we are so preoccupied with the development and performance of our minds that we not only separate our minds from our bodies. we can do so in such a way that it allows others who want to contribute to their fellow human beings a chance to do so. conscious sex. we identify with our minds and their accomplishments as who we are. when we are identified with our minds to the exclusion of our bodies. altered states of consciousness induced by practices and by certain drugs. We have an opportunity to act. critical-mindedness toward ourselves and others. even though many of us have compassion for those we know about but who are not among our group. not one would own a computer.nr . From childhood to adulthood. 28. and assigning them primary importance.jagia-07146. It is out of that context of the self that the new paradigm for how we live together can be created. First. This sets us up for a curious duality of living and it is the single most responsible cause for psychological illness and susceptibility to physical disease. Why is this important? What is the real value of being centered in the experience of being in the body in the here and now? The real value is that we Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. based on knowledge and compassion. Just to drive this difference between the haves and the have-nots home. exercise. touching. we need practices that keep us grounded in the present moment. of that 100 people. participation in sports. let's go back to the context of being—the context of the self. pretense. to the exclusion of our bodies. moving. we are essentially trained to be out of touch with life. Once we have broken free of our own minds' control. have had the luxury of ignorance about the non-privileged world out there. We can do this through yoga. the privileged classes in the wealthy part of the world. Continuous Body Centering Practices By getting back in touch with our physical experiences. We learn to stay grounded in the experience of being-in-the-body-in-the-world-in-the-moment by noticing. playing. meditation. Out of our culturally-biased identification of ourselves as our minds comes most lying.•50 would suffer from malnutrition. we can reconnect with the source of our true passions.co. as yet. Even clarity of thinking itself depends on grounding in experience. Let's do it. Our lives can be a contribution to our fellow human beings by sharing what we know and what we have. they are the only instruments we have with which to experience being. and by sharing these experiences with others. There is a dynamic relationship between every story. and so on. Brian Swimme Each of us is a story within stories. all work. For example. Each of us is a story within stories within stories. It's a paradox. all activity in the human world finds its essential meaning in the context of a people's cosmic story". the true self. 29. There is also an apparently even larger context than yourself. Even though this is a useful perspective. Larger stories influence and add meaning to the stories that are nestled within them. You are the witness to the world that creates the world by being in it as a perceiver. We are the context within which the world occurs. our state.have a place to stand from which to view our own mind and our own cultural insanity—the being we are who notices. our nation. time is also the context in which you occur. humanity. I think he was trying to do the same thing with that title that I am doing with the title of this book—try to get all the important information on the cover. and the story of the Universe itself. My daughter's life story is part of both my story and her mother's story. You Are the World. which is time. principles. Presence to the world creates the world. experiences prolonged drought. Similarly. not the self image. You have those things but they are not the essence of who you are. planet Earth. and beliefs or sensations and images.co. You are essentially. you yourself are the largest context of all.jagia-07146. The Self as Context If the being you are is the context in which the whole world of existence and of time occur. few of us seem to hold it. as your most comprehensive self. my daughter's story would be affected. We will take this line of thought up again. or undergoes a Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. The practices of Hatha Yoga can be seen as a number of exercises for regrounding ourselves in the experience of being in the body for the sake of being present to the world. after we become more familiar with the idea of the big picture of time as explained by Michael Dowd in the next chapter. If you think of yourself as the context within which everything occurs. we think of ourselves as our case history or our values. the context in which the world occurs. your identity is as a witness. Western civilization. More often. and the smaller stories that are a part of it. The Big Picture—The Larger Context For All Human Activities by Michael Dowd Stories Within Stories All professions. the larger stories it is part of. if my nation goes through a severe economic depression.nr . You are both the witness and the world created by witnessing. This being we are is the context within which all the world occurs. The story of our family is likewise part of other stories larger than our own: the story of our town. The Indian philosopher Krishnamurti wrote a book entitled. You are the context in which the world occurs—the being you are includes the whole world. if my wife and I were to move across the country. Even though you are the context within which time occurs. Something significant in the story of Western civilization. . It determines the way we perceive things.jagia-07146. Cosmology: The Largest Context "Every transformation of humanity has rested upon deep stirrings of the intuition. as well as in my story. this would be a significant event in the story of my community." gives meaning to our existence in every area of experience. as the "big picture. An important event in one story will be an important event in all the stories that are nestled within it. "Why did she have to die?" may be answered meaningfully by looking at the larger perspective. traditions and institutions grow. It is our reality. Its rules and boundaries are generally transparent. A tragedy has meaning in terms of the bigger picture. if the major employer in my town. however. But it would not be particularly significant within the story of Western civilization. or larger story. It helps us understand the mysteries of life and death. our cosmology colors everything we see. and where everything is going. the largest of all contexts is the story of how everything began. we ask about the meaning or context of something. my story and my daughter's story. my community's story. This story. behavior. but may be relatively insignificant for the larger stories in which it itself is nestled.co. The larger the context. When we want to know the meaning of something we are asking. A people's cosmology crystallizes into a set of unquestioned assumptions and beliefs about life in that culture. The meaning of some thing or event is apparent in its larger context.Lewis Mumford "Science without religion is lame. or a nuclear war. such as the story of my community.Albert Einstein In every human society. death. Importance or significance. what we perceive. would also be significant for each of the smaller stories nestled within the story of Western civilization. how things came to be as they are. Anthropologist Margaret Mead remarked that every culture she ever Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. When we ask the question. a factory where I have worked for the past twenty-five years. Like sunglasses with colored lenses. The question.nr . generally the deeper the meaning.major spiritual awakening. "Why?". It is the soil out of which all of our beliefs. closes permanently. and my daughter's story will each be affected. what we can and can't see as possible. We can understand personal meaning by using the metaphor that I just described. . we are each a story within stories. a people's cosmology. of course. For example. like an economic and ecological collapse. is relative. The destiny of every story is affected by the larger stories of which it is a part. customs. yet meaningful. and in my daughter's story. and what we can't see at all. "How does this fit into the bigger picture? How does this make sense in terms of the larger story?". Religion without science is blind". my story. whose rationalized expression amounts to a new vision of the cosmos and the nature of the human". An elderly woman who dies while saving a young child's life can be said to have died a tragic. Chang Tsai Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. stars and planets. maturing.Brian Swimme "Heaven is my father and Earth is my mother and even such a small creature as I finds an intimate place in their midst.nr . and how it developed. then forming galaxies. medicine. politics. Every human society developed a story or set of stories that revealed "the truth". of the origin and nature of the world. "The Universe shivers with wonder in the depths of the human". It has become increasingly complex and diversified. and what was to be pursued. A growing number of scientists now suggest that the Universe is more like an evolving. Until recently these beliefs were taken for granted and rarely discussed. All people are my brothers and sisters and all things are my companions". beginning with hydrogen.jagia-07146. religion. Such an account helped people in each culture decide what was good and bad. and on our understanding of our relationship to the rest of nature. what it is. and our role in the destiny of things. was corrupt. some of these scientific breakthroughs are now the foundation of an eco-spiritual awakening that may usher us into the only viable future for humans. The cosmology of the Bible has had a great effect on the thinking and institutions of the West. Written down. chemistry. We thought of ourselves as separate from and superior to nature also because we believed we were created in the image of God. physics and astronomy indicate that the Universe is nothing at all like the Great Machine mechanistic science assumed it was for the past three hundred years. due to "the fall" of Adam and Eve.encountered had an account of how things came to be in the beginning. Nature.a living system . I regard as my nature. economics and education have each been shaped extensively by biblical cosmology. Recent discoveries in biology. an age characterized by a mutually enhancing relationship between humanity and the rest of the community of life. its meaning. in us. A people's cosmology is their Sacred Story. can now consciously reflect on itself. in our view. While these beliefs may be directly or indirectly responsible for much of the ecological devastation taking place on the planet today. and that which directs the Universe. why things are as they are. what was to be avoided. and evolving more complex life-forms over time. geology. as revealed by observation and intuition. . "progress" became equated with exercising increasing control over nature for the benefit of humans. . organism . separate from and superior to nature. The Universe. For centuries we imagined that God was a Supreme Landlord who resided off the planet.co. it often became scripture. Our law. Ironically.which has been developing for 15 billion years. They were inherited and unconscious assumptions and beliefs about reality. Thus. That which extends throughout the Universe. I regard as my body. "The human person is the sum total of 15 billion years of unbroken evolution now thinking about itself" Teilhard de Chardin noted a half century ago. they have also made possible enormous scientific and technological breakthroughs. once molten rock. is part of a larger living planetary system. We humans are a means by which the Universe can perceive its beauty and feel its depths with conscious awareness. an expression of Earth. . harmonious". . the Greeks thought of the Living Planet organism as a fact of life". absorbed. The animal kingdom provides the functions of a nervous system. . waterways. astronaut "It is a peculiar fact that all the great astronomers of the 15th and 16th centuries were deeply convinced that the whole universe was a huge living being.Lewis Thomas Earth is not a planet with life on it. Every cell of my body is part of the larger living system that is me. Each species is a unique expression of planetary consciousness. who live on Earth. and rain function as a circulatory system that moves life-giving "blood". algae. in the same way that an apple grows out from an apple tree. gazing toward the stars and the planet from which I had come. I suddenly experienced the universe as intelligent. and mountain ranges—acts as the skeleton or frame of its existence. and in which it exists. or organism". . our larger body. we grew out from it. we are a mode of being of the Universe. constantly regenerating the entire atmosphere. We are not separate beings in the Universe.jagia-07146. a finely tuned and diversified series of organisms sensitized to environmental change. The student learning biology is the planet learning in consciousness. The worshipper singing praises is the Universe celebrating the wonder of the divine Mystery from whence it came. gleaming membrane of bright blue sky. As physicist Brian Swimme is fond of saying.Edgar D. The soil that covers its grasslands and forests is like a mammoth digestive system. it has the selfcontained look of a live creature full of information. The physical structure of the planet—its core. Earth is our larger self. The oceans. marvelously skilled in handling the sun". "The planet Earth.co.Eugene Kolisco "Viewed from the moon. how it functioned instinctively and unconsciously for billions of years. In it all things are broken down. each of us. loving. the most astonishing thing about the Earth is that it is alive…Beneath the moist. purifying and revitalizing the body. Similarily.The astronomer or hobbyist looking through a telescope is literally the Universe looking at itself. rather it is a living planet. The bacteria.nr .Elisabet Sahtouris "On the return trip home. "Our planet and its creatures constitute a single self-regulating system that is in fact a great living being. Even during the height of western culture. now sings opera". We did not come into this world. mantle. Mitchell. with awareness. The child entranced by the immensity of the ocean is Earth enraptured by itself. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. with all life. plants and trees provide the planet's lungs. and recycled into new growth. or destroy itself. 300 years. To help us see our story as a whole.nr . and each second. It would not occur to me. They are too large to conceptualize so they tend to remain abstractions. they are our external lungs.000 years. . the primary scripture.000 years. of which we are a part. 5 years.Black Elk "Indeed. 500 thousand years. we need to be a little more enlightened about what our self-interest is.with its own unique gifts to the body. to exhort you to refrain from cutting off your leg. Year 1." at one second after midnight on January 1st. which Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. The galaxies formed by the hundred billions when the Universe was about 7 or 8 years old. the human enables Earth to reflect on itself and on the divine Mystery out of which it has come and in which it exists.Thomas Berry "Our most powerful story.Joanna Macy The Great Sacred Story of Life "Everything begins with a story".Lewis Thomas It's tough to get a handle on concepts like millions and billions of years. 500 million years. (A light year is how long it takes light. we belong to the Earth" . .co. or sense of self. The Milky Way galaxy. Moralizing is ineffective. is a major shift in our understanding of who and what we are. is evolution". Each month is 12 million. That wouldn't occur to me or to you because your leg is part of you. formed two days after the beginning of the Universe. or reflexive thought. We are just beginning to wake up to that. each minute. It is a shift at the deepest possible level: our identity. We are gradually discovering that we are our world". from seeing ourselves as separate beings placed on Earth ("the world was made for us") to seeing ourselves as a self-reflexive expression of Earth ("we were made for the world"). with today being one second before midnight on December 31st of the 99th year. equivalent in its way to a universal myth. We are a means by which nature can appreciate its own beauty and feel its own splendor.000 light-years thick at the central bulge.jagia-07146. Humanity allows the planet to exercise self-conscious awareness. "The Earth belongs not to us. Therefore. Each hour is 18. for example. . is a spiral galaxy. hydrogen and helium. If we put the fireball. At this timescale. Each year equals 150 million years. That is. from the "big bang" to the present. Well. imagine our 15 billion year history compressed into one hundred years. Each day is approximately 425. so are the trees in the Amazon Basin. then the first atomic elements. . each decade equals 1 billion. Sermons don't hinder us from pursuing our self-interest. the primary locus of divine-human communion".000 light-years side-to-side and 16. It is 100. this shift (to seeing ourselves a part of a living planet which is our larger self) is essential to our survival because it can serve in lieu of morality. or "big bang. This shift.Joseph Campbell "The universe is the primary revelation of the divine. As Earth cooled. it formed a crust around its molten core. when oxygen. in March of 93. The first amphibians emerged four months later. Mammals began to nurse their young in August of 98. however. Planet Earth learned to consume the Sun. happened in July of 95. Things went smoothly until the great pollution crisis of 88. we would not last a day without them. Sexuality and death are intertwined. The third planet out from the Sun. cooled. All other forms of life are totally dependent upon them. For life forms that are sexual. poisoned the atmosphere and threatened the continued existence of life. that their own survival and development was enhanced. They became extinct a year later when planet Earth was hit by a comet off the coast of what is today Mexico. The innovation of sexual reproduction two years later. The Universe was 72. Our solar system formed from the elemental stardust of a previously exploded supernova when the Universe was 70. Backbones appeared a year later. some creatures began consuming other creatures instead of feeding directly off the Sun. the oceans. Stars live anywhere from a quarter of a billion years to ten billion years or more depending upon their size and composition. Reptiles and coniferous trees both came into existence in December of 97. The development of the nervous system and brain. and then they die. For the early bacterium. for the first time.co.) The Milky Way spirals and makes one complete rotation every 200 million years. a biological community. With sexuality. however. followed soon by the insects. Some of the earliest bacteria may still be with us today. in the spring of 73. it rained for aeons. death was not an inevitability.travels at 12 million miles per minute. and formed clouds. stars are born from clouds of gas and elements formed by previous stars. In September of 94. in worms. The first birds diverged from the dinosaurs Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. As cells gathered together and committed themselves to one another. to travel in one year. with bacteria. This practice made it possible to have an ecosystem. and formed a planetary womb. When the surface temperature dropped below the boiling point of water. like a film on cooling pudding. The dinosaurs appeared in May of 98. was at the right distance to allow liquid water to exist. The first plants achieved multicellularity in March of 91. made possible an enormous leap in planetary creativity. Living beings came ashore. Bacteria are the most important expression of planetary life. As it turns. 97. Bacteria would do just fine without us. The planet came alive in the seas. The vapor from its boiling interior rose upward. they found. The plants were first. by the Universe's 74th birthday. a gas deadly to anaerobic bacteria. death also came into existence. death is an integral part of their existence. by way of photosynthesis. Earth. This first environmental crisis was solved by way of a process of cooperation and mutual benefit. and had the right amount of gravity to allow atoms to form communities of molecules.jagia-07146. Death eliminates biological forms and cleans the slate for new genetic forms. or symbiosis. in community. in February.nr . eight months ago.. began monkeying around only a few months ago. the primates. or incomprehensible Life. tell the story of our times? Will there even be a human expression of Earth in ten thousand years? The answer depends in large part on how humans deal with each other and the natural world over the next fifty years or so. The story is far from over. and our wholesale slaughter of millions of other species. the planet exploded with color due to the ecstatic celebration of flowering plants. this is a poetic or mythological way of describing the evolutionary process I am outlining here. The first species to get classified as fully human. It may be true that humanity has gifts and abilities that other species lack. It is important to note here that at no point in time during the past four and a half billion years. 99. appeared less than two weeks ago. did anyone come from the outside and put anything on the planet.co. from the planet's perspective. water and soil. something colliding with the planet). In any event. How will those living ten thousand years in the future. as something Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. But it is equally true that other species have gifts and abilities that we lack. his thoughts and feelings.jagia-07146." Humans are an expression of Life. He experiences himself. humility is certainly preferable to ignorant arrogance. called by us 'universe'. Our species. Also. appeared in Africa on December 26th. at the heart of the process. the fact that dolphins and many whales have a larger neo-cortex brain than our own suggests that they may be more intelligent than we can possibly know. at the beginning of the 365th day of the Universe's 99th year of existence. Indeed. What is important to remember is that this is the Universe story. The process of evolution continues. Homo sapiens. reflexive consciousness may be more of a planetary liability than an asset. Our ancestors. a half hour from now on our timescale. Homo habilis. but are by no means its crowning achievement. "The Great Sacred Story of Life. a year ago. on December 20th. if we survive it will be because we made large and creative strides in cooperation. During the first week of April. The earliest ape/humans. a part limited in time and space.nr .four months later. walking upright. Human beings domesticated fire during the early morning hours of December 29th. on the last day of December in the Universe's 98th year. When Genesis 2:7 speaks anthropomorphically of God forming us from the dust of the ground and breathing into us the breath of life. as evidenced by our industrial plundering of the air. the Great Mystery revealed in and through the Universe. the age of our solar system. community and love. "A human being is part of the whole. is a very recent expression of the Milky Way galaxy–emerging from the life of the planet only twenty-four hours ago. Only time will tell. "God" is the inner Love. Polar bears originated only three hours ago. It is a good spiritual practice to remind ourselves that we are totally dependent upon bacteria for our very lives and sustenance.e. Assuming that we do not suffer the same fate as the dinosaurs (i. babies. It makes little sense.Albert Einstein "The new cosmic story emerging into human awareness overwhelms all previous conceptions of the universe for the simple reason that it draws them all into its comprehensive fullness… Who can learn what this means and remain calm?" . for example. for that is only a very small part of "me. and in the humans changed to poison. Earth is my larger self. restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.jagia-07146. and information with the "environment.Brian Swimme Deep Ecology "From the point of view of deep ecology." The atoms and molecules of my body now. Alan Watts Through the lenses of deep ecology we can begin to see clearly the Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. so too are the rivers in the trees. -Freya Matthews Deep Ecology is a worldview and associated way of life grounded in the new cosmology. heat. like a flame or a whirlpool: the shape alone is stable. is constantly exchanging matter. the Yellow. we are destroying what is in fact our larger self". what is wrong with our culture is that it offers us an inaccurate description of the self. many of which flow through the veins of sentient creatures". water. and all that we eat. My skin is replaced every six weeks.separated from the rest .Thomas Berry "A living body is not a fixed thing but a flowing event.co. It branches out of the awareness that the environment is not "out there" separate from us. air. I give out as I get. This delusion is a prison for us. but that we are part of vast cosmological. It goes out as gas and excrement–and also as semen. Every year. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty". talk. We are temporarily identifiable wiggles in a stream that enters us in the form of light.. energy." are not the same ones that made up my body a year ago. . poetry and music". the Mississippi rivers are changed to poison. milk. The molecules that are continually becoming "me" come from the air I breathe and the food I eat. The substance is a stream of energy going in at one end and out at the other. My own body. politics. to overly identify with my "ego" self. 98% of my body is replaced. then.a kind of delusion of his consciousness. almost simultaneously.. There is only one river on the planet Earth and it has multiple tributaries. Before that they were part of fish and snakes. . birds and humans. lizards and trees.nr . This is the essence of Deep Ecology. "If the Rhine. in the birds." My larger body is the body of Life itself. war. It depicts the personal self in competition with and in opposition to nature… But if we destroy our environment. what I collectively call "me. Every five days I get a new stomach lining. geological and biological cycles which are concentric and interrelated. I get a new liver every two months. " "Only we can reflect on our dreams. especially our own. but practically". It doesn't cooperate in harmony with the rest of the body. Its application can empower us to live in synergistic cooperation and harmony with the rest of the body of Life." said one. Occasionally a brain cell would realize that it was one with the entire body. It must be put into fervent daily practice in every area of our lives. Needless to say. We can begin to experience a harmonious connection alien to us when we thought of ourselves as separate from and superior to our larger body." said another. They believed that they were destined to leave the body and dwell in a place called heaven.. thinking that they were separate from and superior to the rest of body. . cut off from the wisdom of millions of years of evolutionary development. This is essential for the salvation of millions of species. . Some suggested that the body was dispensable. the message of deep ecology must be taught and integrated into our society on a massive scale if our grandchildren and theirs are to be saved from a toxic and literal hell on Earth. It is to solve some of the problems of life. overpopulates.jagia-07146. It offers reconnection to our genetic memory and billions of years of evolutionary wisdom. the health of the body worsened by the day and was soon on the verge of dying.Brian Patrick The message of deep ecology is timely news for humanity. It experiences itself as separate from the body. Consider the following parable. the brain cells had convinced themselves that the Great Life lived outside the body and could be known only through their dreams. that it was an inexhaustible supply of "resources" for the benefit of the brain. "After all.Henry David Thoreau "The main task of the immediate future is to assist in activating the intercommunion of all living and non-living beings in the emerging Ecozoic era of Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. a group of brain cells debated the relative importance of the rest of the body.co.nature and serious magnitude of our global ecological crisis. not only theoretically.nr . Cancer eventually kills itself by consuming its own environment". They also assumed that the rest of the body was not really alive at all. "A cancer cell is a normal cell disconnected from its genetic memory. We can begin to experience a consciousness of heavenly rapport with all of life. "Why just think of the awesome accomplishments we are capable of!" And they all thought. but to so love wisdom as to live according to its dictates. "so we must be the only part of the body that is spiritual. The planet is calling us to create communities that live and love ecologically. "To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts. and for the planet as a whole. magnanimity and trust. and consumes the organism which supports it.. but it was usually martyred trying to tell the others about this good news. You see. Timely as it may be. Once upon a time. nor even to found a school. "we are the only cells in the body that know that we know things. right?". a life of simplicity. This will certainly be so if the destiny of the human becomes the desolation of the Earth. or ecocide.Earth development. From 11:20 p. I think.. Writing developed at the end of this period and. The desolation of the Earth is becoming the destiny of the human. we went through the neolithic village era. depend entirely upon our relationship to the land. living and dying. can be summarized by the following three sentences: 1. We are also only a very small part of it. 2. The Milky Way galaxy will continue to spiral. Human Destiny "Our present situation. ignore or foster a mutually enhancing human/Earth relationship". water and life of Earth. Earth will continue to evolve.m. This is also known as the paleolithic era or Stone Age. eventually healing the damage done by us. We are totally dependent upon the health of the community of Life for our own health. professions. The glory of the human has become the desolation of the Earth. for nearly 23 and a half of the past 24 hours we were in the tribal-shamanic period of Earth's cultural development. to 11:59 p. and beauty of the life community. 3. We must keep this perspective in mind when discussing "human destiny. Thomas Berry "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the diversity. During this last minute we have toxified the air. But whether or not our species survives.Aldo Leopold In this last day that the Universe has reflected on itself in and through Homo Sapiens. The human is an expression of Earth." Humility may be the single most important attitude of the heart we will need if we are to continue into the future. programs and institutions must henceforth be judged primarily by the extent to which they inhibit.nr . we do to our self. stability. It is. as individuals or as a species. What is most needed in order to accomplish this task is the great art of intimacy and distance: the capacity of beings to be totally present to each other while further affirming and enhancing the differences and identities of each". . air. the beginnings of "recorded history.m." The next nineteen minutes. Therefore. Humility and survival go Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. with countless new solar systems being born..m. is the period of the classical civilizations. or the age of the classical religious cultures. to 11:40 p. Our own healing and destiny. . What we do to the planet. as huntergatherers. We are part of an awesome and divine Universe.jagia-07146. And the Universe will continue to expand and grow more complex for billions of years after our solar system is but a distant cosmic memory. of course.Thomas Berry. water and soil upon which all life depends to such a degree that we are now faced with the possibility of a collapse of the planetary life-support systems.co. For the last 60 seconds we have been in the scientific-technologicalindustrial period. with it. It is wrong when it tends to do otherwise". all human activities. possible that the destiny of Life may not include a human expression much longer. as our larger self. a specialist in the rain forests and vegetation of the world. the logical question becomes.co. This is the way of human destiny! When we see things from a larger perspective. came crashing to a close some 65 million years ago.nr . all of our activities. In the long run. it could not even hope to last. Thanks to our addictive industrial culture. Today. rather than domination over. ignore or foster a mutually enhancing human/Earth relationship. we could create delimited artificial environments to "protect" us in isolation from our despoiled and dying world. species are being eliminated at a rate faster than perhaps any other time in history. We are now at what may be the most significant turning point in the Sacred Story of Life since the 185-million-year Mesozoic era. humanity would continue to understand "progress" in terms of increasing mechanistic control over the forces of nature for its own superficial. their freedom. That was when the dinosaurs all died out. perhaps the only viable option for humans. and institutions will be judged primarily by the extent to which they inhibit. The Ecozoic would further be characterized by our harmonious alignment with. As a direct result of human activity over the past 200 years. of course. The Technozoic would be an isolated hell of existence. All species would be granted their habitat. the biological processes of the planet. The last 65 million years have been called the Cenozoic era. The primary aspect of the Ecozoic would be the deep somatic awareness of the natural world as our larger body. Yet we are accomplishing this feat in a few short decades. and the primary model for all our technologies. Another possibility. As the Cenozoic era collapses around us. "What's next?" Geologian Thomas Berry suggests two possibilities. Biologist Norman Myers. matter decays. In the Technozoic.jagia-07146. we are now bringing to an end this 65-million-year age! It is important to see things from this larger perspective. the chemistry. Pride goes before a fall. This would require abandoning many of our destructive mechanistic technologies. we are altering the geological structure. The Technozoic could never be sustainable. The first possibility he calls the Technozoic era. shortterm benefit.hand in hand. professions. the age of the dinosaurs. is what Berry calls the Ecozoic era. Humanity would become ever more alienated from the rest of Life. Without spirit. Through continued scientific innovation and technological cunning. The natural world itself would be taken as the primary referent for all that we do. the age of the mammals and the flowering plants. and the biological systems of the planet on a scale that would normally have taken millions of years. says that we are bringing about an "extinction spasm" that is likely to produce "the greatest setback to life's abundance and diversity since the first flickerings of life almost four billion years ago". programs. and their range of life expression. In the Ecozoic. it becomes clear that Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. two things are absolutely necessary if the human expression of Earth is to continue into the future. especially for future generations. soul and strength. separate beings that walk around on Earth. The Great Sacred Story of Life is the biggest story. consuming its own host environment. We were chosen. We are all stories within stories within stories. our larger self. that such an awareness awakens within you? (If you want to. water and soil in every conceivable way. Love and Truth must be our guiding realities. not using styrofoam. we will continue to be a "cancer. and your place in the Sacred Story of Life. As a species. working. We are dependent upon the community of life. We will survive only with the spiritual guidance and awareness of the body of Life as a whole with its billions of years of evolutionary wisdom. We must grow from seeing ourselves as discrete. Our thinking and behavior must align with.jagia-07146. and our planet. the reality of our situation: the planet is our larger body. This is a fact! Can you feel the sense of personal destiny. take a few moments and allow yourself to feel your connectedness to the larger body of Life.something more is needed to "save the Earth" than recycling our paper and glass. and flow out of.nr . Body. as we discussed at the start. None of us asked to be alive at this moment in Earth's history. air. and. We must create ecological communities where we can be most truly ourselves. We must live our lives in deep communion with each other and with our bioregion: sharing possessions and dwelling space. This story. and where we are both supported and challenged to be all that we can be. and driving our cars less.) Thomas Berry calls this awareness "the grace of the present moment. That is the true state of affairs. Each of us has been chosen by Life to be alive and to participate in the most significant geological and biological transformation in 65 million years. in short. Specifically. to feeling and knowing ourselves as an expression of Earth. we will quite naturally love our human and nonhuman neighbor. We did not choose to be born at this juncture in the Story. we must make a profound shift in consciousness in the direction of deep ecology if we are to survive. the Universe Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.co. Unless we make this shift in consciousness. and Destiny. where we can share our finitude and brokenness and feel loved unconditionally." The degree that we live the values of the Ecozoic era now will be the degree to which we participate in its inauguration. The second thing necessary for the human expression of Earth to survive is for human beings to live in ecologically sustainable communities. or a sense of mission or purpose. mind. where we can experience loving physical touch. growing food together in a way that enhances our lives and the soil. As we love Life with all our heart. It means being real and open with the Life that is our Source. playing and celebrating together. Living the values of the Ecozoic requires being lovingly truthful and gently honest with ourselves and with each other. laughing. as our self. living in love with each other and with all of Life." a parasite. We are also each contexts within which time occurs. (We do this for recreation. The process of owning oneself as a context within which the world occurs is called transformation. Only through this story of how the universe came to be in the beginning and how it came to be as it is does a person come to appreciate the meaning of life or to derive the psychic energy needed to deal effectively with those crisis moments that occur in the life of the individual and in the life of the society. generally. That context is made possible by the Self. their story of the universe and the human role within the universe is their primary source of intelligibility and value. it also guides and inspires our shaping of the future.jagia-07146. "For peoples. We can create intimate families among people who are not blood relatives through radical honesty—which is essentially sharing real data rather than phony data. including us. The body that houses the context for time to occur resides in the context of time. Such a story… communicates the most sacred of mysteries… and not only interprets the past. the world). occurs. from within the primary context of the self (the witness to.story. That is your true identity. You are the creator of the world. to continually overthrow the structures of the mind and bring about a world that works for everyone. so we can get on with the task of re-creating the world. which is the context within which that context called time resides.co. That is why everything in human affairs must now be seen in light of this "big picture" in order to have any lasting meaning for present and future generations. one to another. We can change how we live together by acknowledging the being we are as the context in which the mind occurs. adds meaning to. Listen up now. and therefore creator of. Time is a context in which all that is. Intimacy and Community We are the context for a story within a story: That is my true identity. They are Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. provides the context for. A Momentary Cross Section of Honest Community: Bart and Maryann's Wedding I attended the wedding of Bart and Maryann a few months ago. and affects the destiny of every other story in existence. by using our minds. The greatest possible context arising from the integration of the wisdom of East and West in the twentieth century is this: Beings who relate as beings. Time is a mental construct within the context of being.) Our work is to live the good life that comes from being centered in the body and consciously creating with a bunch of friends who love each other and continue to tell each other the truth. The transformation is from victim to creator. Membership in an on-going bonded community of support—what we occasionally find in families—seems to be the best fundamental source for creating the world." Thomas Berry 30. Let's take those two contexts that contextualize each other seriously.nr . can work out the problems that come from having minds and personalities. "For the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue. flow. unprotected. I cried when Carsie sang so beautifully the song which Nancy Griffith. I cried when I heard the wonderful words Bart and Maryann wrote and the preacher read. which is infinite. I tried to go on then. being afraid of death. I cried when they said their vows. some of which were taken from Conversations with God III. There were at least fifty people there who have done numerous radical honesty workshops in recent years. and Elijah. exhilarating. I cried talking to and hugging individuals one at a time.nr . I was deeply sad. Cummings I am about to write out for you here. We're all friends from having revealed ourselves honestly to each other. We have empathy and admiration and sympathy for each other separately and collectively. I was among the very best of friends and I was as alone as we all are at the very moment of death. who is six. They were right there. and everyone had to wait for me to cry and get a line said and cry some more and say some more. "and for everything which is natural. I was overjoyed. I also love Bart and Maryann and a whole bunch of the people who were at the wedding. was there at the wedding and so were our two kids. I also love Amy. who is now fourteen. Carsie. This is what it is like in the new community of humankind that is aborning: Overwhelming laughter and hurt. I cried with pride and love and admiration and gratefulness when Amy sang the song she wrote for Bart and Maryann which so intimately and eloquently described their searches on the road to finding each other. We have been mad at each other and gotten over it. They have quit as trainers so he can go to medical school and she can have a baby.good friends of mine and Amy's and are former radical honesty trainers. And I cried. but my voice quavered and then I sobbed. and many of them love each other. I cried during the wedding and during the party after the wedding. from whom I am currently separated. which is Yes. I cried a lot at the wedding." Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. orgasms of fullness. I was so proud of everyone. Amy. feeling. I was full to the brim with love and wisdom and I had nothing to say because I was a blubbering fool.co. a person also in love with the truth. That sky and those trees. They were there. I love my kids with all my heart.jagia-07146. and as the moment we had all created together. I was so close to death. I was full of love and deeply lonely. "I thank thee God for most this amazing day…" The sun shone down through tall green trees on the green lawn full of people whom I know and love as well as people can possibly know and love each other. pain. E. I cried when I recited the poem by E. This is what it is like in the world of the truth cult. I looked at Bart and Maryann and they were as beautiful as the scene they were in. I cried visiting in on small groups of people seated on the grass out on the lawn on that beautiful afternoon. I cried at the realization of the glory of the wedding and the funeral all weddings are for the celebration of the passing of each moment of life. My sobs subsided. my wife. unsafe. wrote. The unbearable lightness of being contrasted with the unlikeable bareness of being. I was barely able to recite the poem so the wedding could go on. My fearful mind resisted letting it all in. unbearable. We have hurt each others' feelings and gotten over it. true dream of sky…" I cried again. I cried. Now the eyes of my eyes awake. I cried for every joy and every grief my life had ever given me. for all things lost and ripped apart. We cried for joy and for all of suffering humanity. The wedding went on. Being was barely bearable. He has been a great poet and one of the great Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. touching. I cried. "Now the ears of my ears are opened. "There are some suicides that can only be explained as the result of an intolerance for joy. he is dying now. "This is the birthday of life and of love and wings and of that gay great happening illimitably earth.D. I don't imagine it will ever stop. not the big events. being any lifted from the no of all nothing ---human merely being--Doubt unimaginable You?" Whole bunch of crying. We cried for every gain and every loss and every lossgain of every blessed moment we had all ever had. We all stood up and clapped. The preacher presented them to us as married to each other. For this is the sun's birthday. "Abandon all hope." The sign on the right side says. "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.co. R. Earth was there in all its lushness. I can hardly bear it." This pathway leads into nowhere. Does ever joy come without sadness? I think not. Laing once said. I almost died. I expect to cry again. hearing. She cried. full of little moments. Oblivion seems appealing. Life and love and wings were there. The little moments. Then when the memory of that contact recurs I cry. Another friend of theirs read another poem. I cried. It was over. and then starts again when the contact of my being with the being of another person opens the floodgates again. I am loved and I love a lot and I can't hardly stand it." My voice went up to a high squeak at the end of the line—trying to get it out before the tears took over. God was crying. I can barely bear it. I cried. my friend and lover Carol Williams says. I have several women who are my lovers these days who love me with all their hearts. I cried to empty the fullness and to fill the emptiness." More crying. We cried.I cried some more. We cried for love and for the nourishment of being together and for the present passingness and ineffability of that itself. "I who have died am alive again today. "To believe in this livin' is just a hard way to go. I am overwhelmed with tears quite frequently. I am walking down a path through an archway. seeing. I can barely hard it. that damn near kill you. "How can tasting. I cried. Christiane came and hugged me and I sobbed my heart out.jagia-07146. The sign on the left side of the path says." John Prine in one of his folk songs says. I cry for the wonder and for the loss and for the little taste of death that spices life in the high contact zone. Taber sang his song. but it often does. A whole bunch of us were crying. for all attachment.nr . When I barely be I can hardly bear it. are what we will remember at the end." God bless him. ye who enter here. I cried. I'm crying now." I got to sit down. But it's the big events. The preacher read Bart's and Maryann's words. We cried for pity and for gratitude and pride in each other. I can hardly bear it. We cried. the culture in which these people live has to shift. lived into and out loud. We are creating the following declaration as a context. Our task as humans in the great conversation now about what it is to be a human being. and still put up with institutions that oppress them and their loved ones merely to make more money. we must do just that to thrive as well as survive. It is still hard at times but hard in a wonderful way. This is how I want to be used up. And when we get to the end. "What did he die of?" What I want on my tombstone is. He reminds me of this ongoing lifedeath of being out here—playing with the other kids at the funeral." Someday soon we will each be all used up. A New Nation "So we pretend we don't care. the spirit of a union of friends remains when the organization they belong to breaks down. the speed with which antiquated mind-sets can be shucked is increased. This is the good life. rather than any traditions of the mind or of institutionalized minds.songwriters of all time. He's got little kids now and cancer. anyway. sharing and honoring the being of human beings within the context of all of being. Every once in a while we Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. that at any given moment. Consciousness of Self and of Context = Revolution People simply cannot go through all the work of learning to transcend their own minds and learn to love each other. "Here lie the remains of Brad Blanton. Unless we do this. but by transcending their own minds. or that someone else is going to fix things. Life is what kills you. Giving up traditional values becomes less painful with a little practice. in our whole human family our time on earth is over. 31. Then the worms themselves will die and the universe will reclaim our basic elements and we will be long gone. Many of us share a vision of a world reorganized based on principles of intimacy. Which fits perfectly into their plans. In fact.co. Temporary breakdowns of social order are to be cherished greatly. is itself a big event full of little events. is to build up our tolerance for joy—the joy that comes from sharing the truth of our existence with each other. "Shift happens!" Cultures are dysfunctional families made up of habitual mind-sets with a lot of emotional attachment. In an honest community of support. This is the life I recommend. Uncertainty now and then won't kill us. Just as the true self remains when the mind goes. We can live without certainty periodically. Life just killed him. The United States of Being. whoever 'they' are. it is likely that the world will be significantly changed quite soon. We are becoming a movement. People always want to know. for they allow corrections to occur. As Swami Beyondananda says.nr . Radically honest communities help individuals to change not by trying to change. This is the legacy I want to leave behind. it's just another day. Therefore.jagia-07146. I want to have died all along the way. Our individual time will be over soon enough. We declare that the possibility exists because we say so. human beings can change frameworks to operate from and it won't kill them or cause the permanent breakdown of social order. The worms will get us. When enough people transcend their own minds. Life. growth centers in the country and workshops organized by my company. I do seminars at Learning Annexes in cities. I do book signings and public talks and radio and television shows about my book. I meet a lot of people I like and who like me. Our third annual convention met in Boulder in May of 1999. An Alliance of Creators: Building a Parallel System of Government Let me name a few of my friends and tell. Ronnie Dugger's Texas Observer and I." . and associations. our community has grown and the re-invention of the meaning of the word "political" is happening right before our ears. At that time. was once only an idea that we. everything that we work and play with from daybreak to bedtime. Something happens to us as we talk. as individuals. guys. very briefly. I tell people how it has been for me in my own life of creating and they tell me how it has been for them. Just put the facts on the table. but what we long for is one of the hardest things for most of today's politicians to give us: an honest conversation. I am proud to be a member of that group. Ronnie Dugger and I have known each other since 1959.Marianne Williamson For several years now. Will the Real Populists Please Stand Up and so many people responded. Radical Honesty: How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth and my Radical Honesty® workshops. Marianne Williamson speaks for herself.co. I have been talking to hundreds of people every month in cities all over the United States. he was the editor of The Texas Observer.nr . As we have grown. She wrote also Return to Love Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. all over the place. Radical Honesty Enterprises. he wrote an article in The Nation entitled. I believe we can create together more consciously now for the benefit of the whole world and that we all have lots of friends out there who want to create with us. Then we all helped each other with our projects.get our hopes up again. In 1995. took upon ourselves to create.F. The mission of the alliance is to bring about an end to corporate rule of the world. We must now face squarely the political implications of our knowledge. Stone's Weekly were the only consistently whistle-blowing paradigm-kicking believable media in existence as far as I was concerned. Her wonderful book The Healing of America keeps me awake at nights and has inspired me for months. What helped a lot was honest conversations along the way. My friends and cohorts and I are changing the world by how we share and be and create together. I do not know her personally but I consider her my friend. In a few moments I will tell you more about that idea. Democracy cannot survive in an environment where the electorate is treated like children who are not quite mature enough to be told the truth. Ronnie has been at Harvard at the Kennedy School for the past several years. Many of us stay in touch. corporations. everything in our lives now. I also do talks and visits to churches. about what they are doing with some of their special projects. where I told them of my idea to start a new country in cyberspace and in the imaginations of human beings everywhere. the only honest newspaper in Texas. For some of us. it became a movement called The Alliance for Democracy.jagia-07146. Especially when the ones withholding the truth are the ones going around acting like children. many of us in moveon.org have pledged millions of dollars in campaign funds against the representatives and senators who kept the pretense up. the former Senator from Alaska when I introduced both of them to Ronnie Dugger. eventually the impeachment failed as it was destined to do from the beginning.and was greatly responsible for the popularization of The Course in Miracles. More than anything else. she become the minister of a large Unity Church in Michigan. but it took four months longer than was needed. Now. I couldn't agree more. subtitled "What Should I Do?". recovering lawyer. My friends Denise Breton and Christopher Largent (authors of The Paradigm Conspiracy: How Our Systems of Government.000 people in a matter of weeks during the Clinton impeachment hearings debacle in 1998-1999. author. submits them to the public and has them voted up or down by the citizenry in thirty to sixty days. This way the politicians would really work for the people.) Since that book came out. Mike Gravel says that the evolution of government in recent centuries has gone like this: the Divine Right of Kings where the Sovereign had total power eventually evolved to representative governments where elected representatives are sovereign. We could have government created by sovereign individuals voting on referenda via 800 numbers and email. Mike Foudy. Well. School. we have already pointed out how out of touch with reality the media and the representatives in our government are. using voiceprints on 800 numbers or security-protected email or whatever other electronic secure system we could set up. Many of you may have participated in the online moveon. because those words have inspired a lot of what you are reading now.co. You can tell quite clearly what she is about by reading The Healing of America. but their power would be limited to funding and doing the work we assigned to them by referendum.) We wanted the House to censure the president and move on. Mike and Mike have been calling for a new Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. It was a part of the usual bread and circuses to keep us distracted from the truth rather than any kind of search for the truth as they were pretending. Church. writes them up. (Read particularly pages 304-306. & Culture Violate Our Human Potential) have gone there and visited with her and the conversations those people have started are at this very moment changing the world's consciousness. We have moved on. rather than waste another forty million dollars and three or four months on whether the president lied about some sexual activity. We could still elect representatives.org movement that grew to over 40. The sovereignty of the individual would be established.jagia-07146. while every real problem in America and the rest of the world was ignored as usual. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. to reorganize the way we are governing ourselves.nr . The movement was a gathering of citizens disgusted with the self-righteous and out of touch Republicans in the House of Representatives (as well as the lying politicos among the Democrats and the media. and radio talk show host is a friend of mine and he introduced me to Mike Gravel. Gravel's proposal is that the Secretaries of State in each of the fifty states form a committee that solicits ideas for referenda. Mike says it is now time to make the individual citizen sovereign. co. I could go on and on about many more of my friends. in advance of the majority. more fair and equitable world order we are all envisioning together will be born. Whenever anyone talks about what they really want in life. and many more ongoing adult education and development events). family systems work. But one thing has struck me over years of working with people in individual and group psychotherapy and workshop groups. We all want to contribute a context of love and Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. and who were often right. He is becoming world famous and he wants to help. are still aware of how the world goes wrong. or writes or tells me their description of an ideal world or writes up their life purpose statements in my workshops—I am amazed at how similar they all are. We would like to do something about it on a larger scale and in a more potent way than we currently have the structures for. On book tours I meet many friends of old. as well as those supporting the furtherance of freedom for women and gay people and all second class citizenry based on cultural prejudice. I meet many who knew about but didn't know the import of all of these enterprises until after many of them were over. WE ALL WANT THE SAME THING!! Everyone's life purpose statements are almost all the same. LifeSpring. but now see the value of what was done. growth centers. and in school buses all over America in the early 70's. I meet people who joined the movements early and people who joined late. and have shelter and the opportunity to live and love and learn. We have been like a widening stream over all those years. He points out how they simply overrule nations and democratic processes as need be if that helps the bottom line. His vision of a new economic order based on spiritual/experiential principles in the post corporate world is entirely consistent with and in alliance with many of the rest of us who are mostly outside the loop of big business. Pathwork. also a member of the Alliance for Democracy and author of When Corporations Rule the World and The Post Corporate World. the anti-Vietnam war movement from 1964 on.jagia-07146.com is the source of the same kind of world community we are all working toward. Many of us who are older now and more in charge of the world now.conversationswithgod. I meet people involved in the personal growth and human potential movement during the '80's and 90's (est.David Korten. Arica Training. is another friend with a political and economic view of the future out of which this new. most of whom I had never met in person before. Haight-Ashbury in the summers of '66 to '68. as it turned out. We all want to have everyone taken care of and happy and provided for. Organizational Development work. Outward Bound. most of whom are less famous than the ones I've mentioned. Neale Donald Walsch. and we have discovered ourselves to be the ones who knew and transcended the cultural limitations that all those movements for liberation represented.nr . smoking pot and experimenting with psychedelic and other drugs for many years. group therapy. author of Conversations with God books one. I meet many people who were in the same struggles I was engaged in—the civil rights movement from 1959 on. We all want everyone in the world to be fed. two and three and Friendship with God and other books. economics and international development. couples therapy. The Forum. His web site www. is a brilliant synthesizer of known information and an articulate teacher in revealing the truth about banks and international corporations. As T. We are starting." "Imagine there's no country It isn't hard to do. this community is that "…strange beast." John Lennon envisioned in the 60's this conclusion we are coming to in these days. why can't we do it? There is nothing in our way except outdated paradigms and habit and ignorance. this book.co. Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace…" "Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world…" "You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one. I'm sure you can remember the tune to "Imagine. if we all want the same thing. let's do it! I have an idea about how to start." "Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky. stumbling toward Bethlehem to be born. Eliot foretold in the 50's. Once we complete the Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. through the Internet." If that is what we all want. We hope to build a parallel system to the current world government and economic order and run it alongside the old one until it has been well tested— just like you build and operate simultaneously two parallel programs for a while when you are switching to a new computer system. including me.S. its hour come round at last. and some other friends of mine.jagia-07146. We envision this new nation to be based on honesty and freedom.security to everyone else in the world. along with some friends of his. have the bright idea to create a new nation. Creating a New Nation My friend. We envision this new nation as a context within which the existing structures of control are transformed. and by talking to everyone we know. Imagine all the people Living for today. Tom James. So.nr . to invite people to become citizens of a new country. We envision a nation where an honest conversation is the main ongoing method of sustenance and management of the nation itself. to come up with a way of creating basic documents.nr . by voting on referenda.com. It may take a while and be a little bit of work.structure of our nation. Our first vote will be on a few beginning referenda Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. criticism. We plan.000 members. but what the hell? What else are you going to waste your life doing. tell them that we are a cult and we plan to take over the world. Pass this around and let's get started. anyway? If you don't have email or if you have friends who don't have email. Give us your email address and home address and we will continue to notify you of our growth and development and ask you to keep participating with us to make ourselves a viable alternative to the current world order. To become a voting citizen of the United States of Being.co. You can have joint citizenship with us and with any other world state at the same time as far as we are concerned. we could just quit after we were amused by the possibility for a while.radicalhonesty. You do not have to secede from your current country. such as a constitution for our new country. At our website. If anyone asks you what we are about. But noooo! We have to create it as a context! And. www. by the time we reach 10. we will take over more and more of the old government and then just replace it with ours. and resistance that cause the furtherance of our success rather than stopping us. and then saying what you are in favor of as policy second.) In fact. call 1800-EL-TRUTH and we will sign you up. and if we were not creating it as a context big enough to include all of the reasons that it is ridiculous. all you have to do is sign up and vote on referenda you help create. By creating a context we are empowered by opposition. The initial geographical center for organizing the new United States of Being is at my house. Here is the plan: Our new nation is called The United States of Being. a 92-acre piece of land in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the United States on the continent of North America. Everyone belongs to this country who lives on planet earth. and then giving all the rest of us a chance to choose among alternative ways of dealing with what has been brought to our attention in the whole conversation. (We want to start out by telling the truth and do it all the way through.jagia-07146. I propose that we build this thing together from scratch through referenda and simulation of government in parallel to the other world order and economic setup. We only need about a couple million enrollments before we make our first big move. we will then use our new government to replace the old one. It is. as you may remember from chapter twenty-three. Join us. of course. When we grow bigger in influence than the highly paid lobbyists for the international corporations. creating a context is different from taking a position about what should be. you can sign up as a citizen of our new country and then send an email to all your friends and ask them to sign up. Signing up to vote makes one a voting member rather than just a plain citizen. test out the new system and grow a little bit. a naïve and ridiculous idea. We'll run this parallel system until we are ready to take over the world. the way you actually vote in this form of government is by speaking about and listening to the truth about what is going on in the world and how you feel about it and what you think first. on Sparrowhawk Farm. When we have strong alternatives to what management systems currently exist.co. we will form the parallel government we imagine while at the same time becoming a political force in the governing of the United States of America and of other nation states.jagia-07146. (Taxes are no longer certain. Minimum voting age is 12. Too many of them destroy the body by causing cancer. Cheerfully and without violence. and pass on this new declaration of independence. free radicals are a bad thing. We are as certain as death and evolution. top-down management. including our new constitution. Every referendum will be available for people to vote for or against for 30 days and they can vote by email or by calling our 800 number. Free Radicals This book was going to be called Free Radicals. We are here to destroy the current body politic of the world. They are all the organism within which we live and which we intend to destroy and replace by our growth. endorse. We have come to call ourselves "free radicals" because of our destructive and creative function and intention. we haven't voted on that yet. we will need some money for setting up voiceprint identities and securing the email way of voting so we can prevent cheating on the vote. borders. Here is the email I have sent out and we already have hundreds of members. please read. we want to end corporate rule. in actuality. the world economic order and all the established religious institutions of the current world.S.) Here is how you sign up: You declare yourself a citizen of the United States of Being. a substitute government that will be both more compassionate and efficient than the poor ignorant way we had world order set up at the end of the twentieth century. we will substitute them for the antiquated structures. a new nation in cyberspace and in the imagination of people everywhere. After passing a series of referenda. You can go to our web site and download this and email it to all your friends. of Being. in the real world. In the biological world. We call ourselves free radicals to own. To avoid cancer we are supposed to eat right (for example. We will work to build. by analogy.) A Campaign To Form A New Nation For those of you who don't know me. The less than one percent of us who own computers can get this started. We are mutants.nr . lots of carrots for beta carotene) and do what we can to put a damper on free radicals. But free radicals are also important in causing mutations and elaborations in genetic structure so evolution can occur.concerning the primary values of the new U. We will eventually develop systems for creating a new world economic order. our destructive function and our re-creative function. All we have to do is let people know what is possible here. If you are willing to help. and then spread this and the availability and use of computers worldwide at the same time. As we get bigger. I am a psychotherapist and workshop leader and author of a book called Radical Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. my name is Brad Blanton. but we changed the title because we thought we could sell more books if everyone who read Radical Honesty recognized this book as a sequel. (Please feel free to copy this and send it to all your friends. Please join now and help us create a new world order for everyone in the world by everyone in the world who is willing to help. based on the principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence of the United States. But instead of organizing against the King of England. the Forum. and when I got to the final chapter. I have been writing about all these communities while working on my next book. that all human beings are equal.jagia-07146. and then put it into place replacing the old software. a decent respect for the opinions of humankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to the separation. I am part of a community of friends who focus on being honest about what we think and what we feel and what we do. Here it is: Declaration of Independence for a New Millennium (Modeled after the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America and the Founding Document of the United States of Being) When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another. We have helped each other grow up a lot and we contribute what we have learned to other people by helping to undo and then reorganize dysfunctional families—starting from nuclear families. We hold these truths to be self-evident. We invite you to join us. and many others). How hard could that be? (Ha!) So we have written a new Declaration of Independence. we shall organize against the outdated paradigms maintained by the current world economic order. It will be a lot like designing new software and then running it parallel to the old software until it has been tested. Live in the Present and Build a Future with a Little Help from Your Friends. And instead of a bloody revolution we could just have a revolution of consciousness—a redesign revolution—a change of models from one that is not working so well to one that works better. a conversation got started among me and many of the people helping me.Honesty: How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth. Our work is based mostly on the personal growth of people in groups who have been healing themselves from cultural damage in the context of therapeutic communities (like AA. We could form a new nation and it could include everyone in the world. by just having citizens sign up. that Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. modeled very closely after the first one.co.nr . that we all have certain unalienable rights. we would like to build on the wisdom of the past but start over again with the new paradigm we all are already operating from based on what we have learned in our lives that makes the old top-down managed paradigm obsolete. but now expanding to governments. Al-Anon. which is this: What if we formed a new country? A lot of us are fed up with the current state of government and politics and out of frustration with current affairs. and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature entitle them. and we are founding a new nation. LifeSpring. corporations and international corporate interest groups that influence governments. Radical Honesty II: How To Complete the Past. We have come up with a big idea. and to provide new guards for their future security. the judiciary branch. than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. in practical fact. pursuing invariably the same object. and with secret agencies hidden from the citizenry. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Prudence.among these are life. it is their duty. The governance of the United States of America.nr . in times of peace. The budget for defense at the end of the twentieth century. To prove this. the courts. The Congress. will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. and accordingly all experience has shown that humankind is more disposed to suffer. liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Such has been the patient sufferance of all human beings colonialized by the currently existing world economy and government at the end of the twentieth century. evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism. render the military independent of. to throw off such government. themselves. it is their right. let the facts be submitted to a candid world. economically the strongest nation currently in the world. Through hired lobbyists and campaign contributions to both parties in an illusory two-party system. as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. The Congress of the United States. is unduly influenced and. governments are instituted among human beings. and the presidency do not operate independently from this influence. corporate money controls legislation to such a degree as to virtually eliminate serious opposition. takes up twenty-two percent of the Gross National Product. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends. based on limited and nondemocratic corporate interests. deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. and to institute new government. it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.jagia-07146. by international corporations in alliance with military interests and quasi-military secret agencies and pro-military governmental bodies. standing armies without our consent. while evils are sufferable. The history of the growth of international corporations and national governments and their interactions in the twentieth century is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations. in direct object. and such is now the necessity that constrains them to alter their former systems of government. indeed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations. when we are not at war. controlled. the establishment of an absolute tyranny over human beings belonging to this planet. all having. and the presidency have failed to pass or effectively advocate any campaign legislation that limits the way they. have come into power in the first place. laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power in such form. They keep among us. That to secure these rights.co. There are at least thirty-six separate secret agencies whose funding. operations. keeps all that is felt in response to the needs of living persons from being acted upon and mitigates against the flexible creation of systems and structures that recreate those things needed for humanity as needs occur. the civil power. the health care establishment. The combination of these forces in the United States of America has made it difficult to bring into being a more fair and equitable health care system worldwide. unwieldy. its name: the criminal justice system. while robbing even more of the remaining peoples of the world of that same opportunity. This privilege depends on how much money an individual has. where valuing belief in the rightness of principles themselves for principle's sake is held higher than compassion for living human beings. most of them pain killers. When egregious activities on the part of these military and para-military organizations are brought to light. the racist criminal justice system remains in place. Health care is a privilege rather than a right.nr . The largest economic enterprise on earth is illegal drugs. Insurance companies of such size and wealth as to challenge the power of whole nations are in alliance with pharmaceutical companies of the same proportionate financial power who are also. In this way the illegal market can be maintained. and who have been educated and parented in such a way as to render them. and activities are kept secret from the populace in the name of national security. This is kept in place in the world by the United States of America through the decades-long so-called "war on drugs" in which the alliance of the righteously religious. in any values whatsoever. the para-military secret agencies and the legal system supports the sustenance of the whole corrupt enterprise of "illegal drugs" by outlawing selected drugs and bringing pressure to bear on other countries to do the same. themselves.and superior to.jagia-07146. and do.co. for all practical purposes. and the jobs of the hard working but incompetent can be sustained. Such reification of belief. such that they are holy and untouchable. The rule of law in the strongest nation on earth is a myth. defeat all attempts at creating a fair and equitable health care system for people in the United States. the revelations are decades after the occurrence of the offending activity. immune to further learning for the rest of their lives. We are building new prisons at an unprecedented rate and populating them with persons whose lives were damned to be underprivileged at birth. People who are missed in the illegal drug trade are even more expensively supplemented by the legal pharmaceutical industry. rendering it impossible to have their activities curtailed by the people of this country until those responsible are no longer in power. These alliances can. The criminal justice system is correct in only one way. When the rule of law is mentioned it is in the context of trivial arguments in defense of righteousness. which gets to advertise its biochemical solutions to physical symptoms sourced by the social malaise of which they are such an important part. in alliance with a medical establishment structurally dependent upon the largesse of corporate giants and vested in the status quo. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. and uncorrectable. The entire court system is corrupt. The ongoing news media show is controlled continuously by the selfsame corporations. This is a war of minds and hearts of persons whose primary value is compassion. friends. This is the circus that is set out for the entertainment and substitute for thought for the public at large. these oppressions are maintained and reinforced by a government of representatives.nr . They are deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. control. to disavow these usurpations of power that would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence with each other. Those of us who have petitioned for redress have been ignored or answered by repeated injury. We have reminded them of our rights under the Constitution of the United States and the government and regulations set up under that constitution to no avail. and hold them. and the status quo. We have warned them from time to time of the danger of their attempts to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. and ownership of the public media. in peace. They owe their elections and their appointments to the people with the money. This is a war to be fought not on the Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. and for their continual drugged state. In every stage. For example. acquiesce in the necessity that denounces our separation. in case the illegal drugs provided and the legal pharmaceutical industry's efforts have not sufficed. against persons whose minds and hearts are committed to conquest. and keeps the populace under control through secret agreements. lobbying. therefore. Republicans advocate a smaller figure and Democrats advocate a somewhat larger figure for an hourly wage. the judiciary and the presidency of the United States of America have been bought. This circus continues and is reported and interpreted by a media controlled by corporate interests so there is no meaningful discussion of what a minimum wage means. The Congress. Those amounts are all that get discussed in the media.jagia-07146. The media only reframes what they are given in an attempt to sensationalize the contexts provided for them. Their allegiances are all to the same interests and controlled by the same alliance of corporations working in skillful accord with each other. as we hold the rest of mankind. enemies in war.co. We must. We have repeatedly demanded campaign finance reform and had everyone in both parties in favor of it and "trying" to do so for the last thirty years of this century and that reform has not occurred. The entire discussion is limited to the "conservative" advocates of the smaller figure and the "liberal" advocates of the larger figure.The separation of parties in the United States of America is also a myth. in the argument between the "two" parties about setting the minimum wage. The possibility of creating a new minimum wage based on some standard other than the well-established tradition of control of the marketplace by a very small minority of established financiers and institutions is never raised. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred here in our native land and in locations throughout the world. whose elections were bought through advertising in multi-million dollar campaigns financed by established interests. The one party with two names is owned and operated by international and national corporate financiers. battlefield, but in the family, the local community, the marketplace, the Internet, the personal conversation with friends, intimate conversations between couples, conversations with strangers and every other avenue of communication and aspect of life on earth, from now on out, until the conclusion is assented to by all people, that we are of one cloth and do honor each others' humanity above pleasures and sufferings of conquest and control. I f we could represent the world's population in current times as a village of one hundred people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look like this; •70 would be unable to read. •50 would suffer from malnutrition. •80 would live in substandard housing. •1 would have a college education. •Fifty percent of the entire world wealth would be in the hands of 6 people. All 6 would be citizens of the United States of America. (from Marianne Williamson, The Healing of America) •Not one would own a computer. We, the founders of a new order, intend to change the fundamental structures that maintain this obscene balance of wealth and power. This limitation of possibility for most of humankind can only be changed by changing the economic order upon which it is dependent, holding our voices and sheer numbers in alliance with each other as more important and more powerful than the numbers of dollars held by the limited few. We assert that people are more important than money and we intend to build a new world order that reflects that, even if it means proclaiming a new form of money. We, therefore, as representatives of the United States of Being, do, in the name of, and by the authority of, the good people of this world, solemnly publish and declare, that these United States of Being are, and of right ought to be, a Free and Independent Nation; that we place as secondary all allegiance to any government whatsoever that requires of us, directly or indirectly, a participation in the violation of basic human rights to food, shelter, health care, a decent education, and the restoration of ecological balance of the earth for all of the people of the earth, now and in the future. We proclaim ourselves to be the creators of a new context and a new country called the United States of Being, within which reside all governments, enterprises, corporate entities and affiliations of humankind and under whom all allegiances to other persons or collective bodies are subsumed, toward the goal of making a world where physical warfare exists no more, starvation ends, adequate shelter is provided for all people, ecological balance is restored, health and well being are assured and the fundamental education of all peoples is provided for. And for the support of this declaration, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. Brad Blanton If you want to sign up, go to our web site and do so. If you don't have a Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr computer call us at 1-800-EL-TRUTH and we'll send you a copy to sign. Our web address is: http://www.radicalhonesty.com A new world order is at hand, and it is a form of order that provides for conscious human participation in continuous creation and recreation without end, and we are at the forefront of the cult that controls the rudder: the telling the truth cult. We stand with clear eyes gazing into the labyrinth of lies most of us call home, talking about what we see, bringing about its downfall. At the same time, we are creating in its place, out of a more honest conversation, a new way of being together and taking care of each other. Come on in, we're doing fine; you'll love it. Thank you for reading this book. Thank you for listening. Bibliography and Recommended Resources Books Aluna, Michael Dowd. Earthspirit: A Handbook for Nurturing an Ecological Christianity. 1991, Twenty-Third Publications. Anderson, Sarah; Cavanaugh, John. Top 200: The Rise of Global Corporate Power. 1996, Institute for Policy Studies. Anderson, Sarah; Cavanaugh, John; Lea, Thea. The New Field Guide to the Global Economy. 2000, The New Press. Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. 1994, Viking Penguin. Arendt, Hannah. Human Condition. 1998, University of Chicago Press. Berenstain, Stan (1923); Berenstain, Jan (1997). Inside Outside Upside Down. 1997, Random House Incorporated. Blanton, Brad. Radical Honesty: How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth. 1996, Dell Publishing. Bradshaw, John. Creating Love. 1993, Macmillan Library Reference. Bradshaw, John. Family Secrets. 1996, Bantam Books. Bradshaw, John. Homecoming. 1992, Bantam Books. Breggin, Peter; Breggin, Ginger R. The War Against Children. 1994, Saint Martin's Press. Breggin, Peter; Breggin, Ginger R. The War Against Children of Color. 1998, Common Courage Press. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr Breton, Denise; Largent, Christopher, The Paradigm Conspiracy: How Our Systems of Government, Church, School, & Culture Violate Our Human Potential. 1996, Hazelden Foundation. Brown, Norman O. Life Against Death. 1985, University Press of New England. Brown, Norman O. Love's Body. 1990, University of California Press. Cain, Albert C., ed. (Schneidman, Edwin S., contributor). Survivors of Suicide. 1972, Charles C.Thomas Publishers Ltd. Campbell, Joseph. Hero With a Thousand Faces. 1996, Fine Communications. Campbell, Joseph. Inward Journey. 1997, Donald I. Fine Books. Campbell, Joseph. Mythos. 1999, Element Books Incorporated. Cameron, Julia. The Artist's Way. 1995, Putnam Publishing Group. Castaneda, Carlos. Journey to Ixtlan. 1994, Buccaneer Books Incorporated. Castaneda, Carlos. Teachings of Don Juan. 1998, University of California Press. Chödrön, Pema. Awakening Loving-Kindness. 1996, Shambhala Publications, Incorporated. Chödrön, Pema. Interview in Shambala Sun, March 1997 and Utne Reader, June 1997. Chödrön, Pema. Start Where You Are. 1994, Shambhala Publications, Incorporated. Chödrön, Pema. When Things Fall Apart. 1996, Shambhala Publications, Incorporated. Chödrön, Pema. The Wisdom of No Escape. 1991, Shambhala Publications, Incorporated. Chopra, Deepak. Creating Affluence. 1998, Amber-Allen Publishing. Chopra, Deepak. Dancing on the Razor's Edge. 1998, Harmony Books. Chopra, Deepak. Everyday Immortality. 1999, Crown Publishing Group Incorporated. Chopra, Deepak. Finding God. 1999, Harmony Books. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr Chopra, Deepak. Healing the Heart. 1998, Macmillan Library Reference. Chopra, Deepak. Journey Into Healing. 1999, Crown Publishing Group Incorporated. Chopra, Deepak. Overcoming Addictions. 1998, Three Rivers Press. Chopra, Deepak. Seven Laws of Spiritual Success. 1999, Vedanta Press. Covey, Steven. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. 1997, Covey Leadership Center. Crosby, Bob; Scherer, John. People Performance Profile. 1985, Jossey-Bass, Incorporated Publishers. Cummings, E.E. Eimi. 1991, Reprint Services Corporation. Cummings, E.E. Poems 1923-1954. 1954, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. Dale, Stan. Fantasies Can Set You Free. 1980, Celestial Arts Publishing Company. Dale, Stan. My Child, My Self. 1992, Human Awareness Publications. Diamond, Jared M. The Third Chimpanzee. 1992, Harper Collins Publishers Incorporated. Diamond, Jared M. Why Is Sex Fun? 1997, Harper Collins Publishers Incorporated. Erhard, Werner. Outrageous Betrayal. 1993, Saint Martin's Press. Farberow, N. Suicide in Different Cultures. 1975, University Park Press. Ferguson, Marilyn. The Aquarian Conspiracy. 1987, The Putnam Publishing Group. Ferguson, Marilyn. The Brain Revolution. 1973, Taplinger Publishing Co. Ferguson, Marilyn. Pragmagic. 1990, Pocket Books. Foundation for Inner Peace Staff. A Course in Miracles. 1996, Viking Penguin. Francina, Suza. The New Yoga for People Over 50. 1997, Health Communications, Inc. Fritz, Robert. Corporate Tides. 1996, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Incorporated. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr Fritz, Robert. Creating. 1995, Butterworth-Heinemann. Fritz, Robert. The Path of Least Resistance. 1989, Fawcett Book Group. Gallwey, W. Timothy. Inner Skiing. 1998, Random House. Gallwey, W. Timothy. Inner Tennis. 1998, Random House. Gallwey, W. Timothy. The Inner Game of Golf. 1998, Random House. Gallwey, W. Timothy. The Inner Game of Tennis. 1997, Random House. Gallwey, W. Timothy. The Inner Game of Work. 1997, Random House. Gatto, John Taylor; Mercogliano, Chris. Challenging the Giant. 1996, Down-toEarth-Books. Gatto, John Taylor. Dumbing Us Down. 1991, New Society Publishers, Limited. Green, Barry; Gallwey, W. Timothy. The Inner Game of Music. 1986, Doubleday. Heinlein, Robert A. Stranger in a Strange Land. 1961, 1991. G.P. Putnam's Sons. Hendricks, Gay. Conscious Breathing. Hendricks, Kathlyn; Hendrics, Gay. The Conscious Heart. 1997, Bantam Books. Hendricks, Kathlyn; Hendrics, Gay. Conscious Loving. Holt, John. Escape from Childhood. 1995, Holt Associates. Holt, John. Freedom & Beyond. 1995, Boynton/Cook Publishers Incorporated. Holt, John. Growing Without Schooling. 1997, Hold Associates. Holt, John. How Children Fail. 1995, Addison Wesley Longman, Incorporated. Holt, John. How Children Learn. 1995, Addison Wesley Longman, Incorporated. Holt, John. Kicking Up Trouble. 1995, Wilderness Adventuring Press. Holt, John. What Do I Do Monday? 1995, Boynton/Cook Publishers Incorporated. Hubbard, L. Ron. Child Dianetics Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr Hubbard, L. Ron Scientology : The Fundamentals of Thought. 1997, Bridge Publishers Hubbard, L. Ron Dianetics : The Modern Science of Mental Health. 1995, Bridge Publishers. Hubbard, L. Ron Clear Body Clear Mind. 1990, Bridge Publishers. Jones, Riki Robbins. Negotiating Love. 1995, Ballantine Books, Incorporated. Kabat-Zinn, Myla; Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Everyday Blessings. 1998, Hyperion. Kabat-Zinn, Myla; Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Mindful Parenting: Nourishing Our Children, Growing Ourselves. Kabat-Zinn, Myla; Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Soul Food: Stories to Nourish the Spirit & the Heart. 1996, Harper San Francisco. Keen, Sam. Faces of the Enemy. 1991, Harper San Francisco. Keen, Sam. Fire in the Belly. 1992, Bantam. Keen, Sam. Hymns to an Unknown God. 1994, Bantam. Keen, Sam. Inward Bound. 1992, Bantam. Keen, Sam. Learning to Fly. 1999, Broadway Books. Keen, Sam. The Passionate Life. 1984, Harper San Francisco. Keen, Sam. Sacred Journey. 1996, Simon & Schuster Trade. Keen, Sam. To Love & Be Loved. 1999, Bantam. Kelly, George A. The Psychology of Personal Constructs. 1992, Routledge. Klein, Marty; Robbins, Riki. Let Me Count the Ways: Discovering Great Sex Without Intercourse. 1999, The Putnam Publishing Group. Korten, David C. The Post Corporate World. 1998, CoPublications. Korten, David C. When Corporations Rule the World. 1996, CoPublications. Krishnamurti, Jiddu. You are the World. (out of print; other titles available) Laut, Phil. Money is My Friend. 1999, Ballantine Publishing Group. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.jagia-07146.co.nr Love & Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy.Liedloff. Parton. NAL/Dutton. Lowry House. The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size." Genetic Psychology Monographs. 2000. 1997. Cities of the Plain. 1998. A. Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Llewellyn. Grace. 1978. The Continuum Concept. Peck. 1996. 1998. Scott. 1993. B. Gifts for the Journey. Llewellyn. The Teenage Liberation Handbook. Pocket Books. Harper San Francisco.E. Neill. Coat of Many Colors. A. 1998. Neill. Random House Value Publishing Incorporated. Trice Publishing. Harper Collins Children's Books. M. A. Grace. 1996. Scott. The Crossing.jagia-07146. Cormac. Peter Smith Publisher Incorporated. Tor. M. M. Lowry House.S. Summerhill School. 1993. A. Peck. 1998. Jean. Robert. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Pocket Books. 1995. Summerhill. Freedom Challenge: African-American Homeschoolers. Ornish. Dean. McCarthy. Nicholas. Viking Penguin. Peck. Dolly. Real Lives: Eleven Teenagers Who Don't Go To School. 1978.co. Cormac. "Measuring the Mental Health of Normal Adults. TM.D.S. Simon & Schuster McCarthy. Lowry House. Grace. Renaissance Books. 1984. Neill. 1998. Ornish. The Road Less Traveled. Weigh Less. 1996. 1990. Summerhill For & Against. 1959-60.S. 1998. Limited. Simon & Schuster Trade. Llewellyn. Lore. Eat More. Norretranders. Neill. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. HarperCollins Publishers Incorporated. Saint Martin's Press. The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success.nr . Dean. Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Private. Incorporated. 1998.S. Pocket Books. Freedom Not License. John Scherer & Associates. 1993. I Will Never Leave You: How Couples Can Achieve the Power of Lasting Love. Robbins. 1990. Tom. 1995. Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster. Peters. Vintage Books. Bantam Books. 1995. 1995.jagia-07146. Robbins. Prather. John. Tom. Tom. Peters. Bantam. 1990. Skinny Legs & All. Tom. Prather. 1998. Fritz. Tom. The Gestalt Approach & Eye Witness to Therapy. Prather. Prather. Hugh. Erich. Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness. Robbins. 1992. Schiffmann. Another Roadside Attraction. Hugh. Gayle. Body Fantasy. Tom. Harper Collins Publishing Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Excellence in the Organization. Random House Value Publishing Incorporated. Robbins. Crown Publishing Group. Prather. Fritz.co. Heart & Soul of Excellence. Tom. The Pursuit of Wow! 1995. Will. Doubleday. Tom. A Book For Couples. 1976. 1991. Robbins. Gayle. Tom. Bantam. Peters. 1996. 1999. Still Life with Woodpecker. Hugh. 1997. Science & Behavior Books. Work & the Human Spirit. Gayle. 1995. Bantam. Robbins. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Prather. Hugh. 1975. Tom. Schutz. Perls. Shook. Legacy From Fritz. Parables from Other Planets. The Circle of Innovation. Turner. 1977. 1990. Tom. Liberation Management. Prather. Simon & Schuster Trade.nr . 1997. Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas. Peters. Bantam. Evelyn. Bantam Books Incorporated. Prather. Bantam. 1995. Peters. Incorporated. Gayle. Larry. Random House Value Publishing Incorporated. Inc.Perls. Bantam Books. Bantam. Scherer. Spiritual Parenting: A Guide to Understanding and Nurturing Your Child. Vintage Books. Jitterbug Perfume. Williamson. Neale Donald. 1982. Will. Walsch. which is the North American equivalent to the Green movement in Europe. Pocket Books. Return to Love. Spock. Simon & Shuster Trade. Macmillan Library Reference. Spock. Simon & Shuster Trade. Will. Stevens. Healing the Soul of America. Simon & Shuster. Conversations With God series. Putnam Publishing Group. Leaders of Schools. Enchanted Love: The Mystical Power of Intimate Relationships. Dr. Williamson. Benjamin M. 1984. Benjamin M. 1990. Marianne. Home! A Bioregional Reader.co. HarperCollins Publishers Incorporated. 1977. Marianne. Schutz. The Truth Option. Schutz. Experimenting. Walsch. An excellent introduction to bioregionalism. 1998. Annotated Resources for Chapter 29 (Reviews by Michael Dowd) Andruss. 1997. The Healing of America. Pfeiffer & Company. 1985.jagia-07146. Pocket Books. 1994. 1999.Incorporated. al. Raising Children in a Difficult Time. Benjamin M. Incorporated.nr . 1996. Friendship With God. et. 1996. Bantam Books. Spock. 1973. Marianne. NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company. Marianne. A Better World for Our Children. Incorporated Publishers. Incorporated Publishers. Van. Jossey-Bass. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers. Pocket Books. Will. Neale Donald. Schutz. Will. Presents an exciting vision and strategy for creating sustainable communities and cultures in harmony with the limits and regenerative powers of Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Christopher Plant. Benjamin M. The Human Element. Williamson. Baby & Childcare. Ten-Speed Press. 1997. 1999. 1971. Teenager's Guide to Life & Love. Spock. Experiencing. Jossey-Bass. 1999. John O. 1999. Profound Simplicity. Williamson. Awareness: Exploring. Simon & Shuster Trade. Spock. Schutz. Spock on Parenting. Benjamin M. Berry. Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications. The Turning Point: Science. He also includes a very helpful annotated bibliography. Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith. a turning point for the planet as a whole. A synthesis of feminist scholarship. Bateson. bioregionalism. "A clear. 1987. education.. Society. A fascinating look at how discoveries in the sciences over the last century are ushering in a whole new way of being human. 1980. guides us. Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith. Thomas. Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Weighty reading. The Dream of the Earth. Thomas Berry says of this book. ecology. Truly a handbook worthy of its subject. Inspired by Love . A resource for individual and group study. technology. This book is an enlightening and empowering presentation of our modern cosmology. Devall. Michael. and George Sessions. Eisler. Box 65190. compellingly shows how we have reached a time of dramatic change. a guidebook for those who teach. Riane. Bateson shows how we must think if we are to be reconciled to our true nature— how to "think as nature thinks". Bill. Our Future. The Chalice and the Blade: Our History. A good guide to embodying the deep ecology perspective in everyday life. archaeological research.co. Devall. but well worth the effort. spirituality.jagia-07146. and the Rising Culture. Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity. New York: Ballantine Books. 1972. a textbook for all of us who are learning". and regain our place in the natural world. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. Capra. delightful presentation of a Christianity that is alive. 1988. Christianity. Mystic. Gregory. New York: Bantam Books. 1988. Dowd. Baltimore. and dynamic systems theory. 1985. Published twice a month. Simple in Means. 1991. patriarchy. this book draws heavily on what has been learned during this century about the neolithic cultures of Old Europe. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. 1983.. New York: Bantam Books. Cogito. Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered. and evokes within us those spiritual energies that we need to assume our religious responsibilities for the fate of the Earth. if we are to survive into the future. A fundamental exposition of the philosophy of deep ecology. subtitled "A Journal Promoting the Healthy Human Spirit. Capra. Eisler insists that we must replace our present dominator model of human relationships with a partnership model. MD 21209. a physicist. San Francisco: Harper & Row. economics.Guided by Reason". A good introduction to perhaps the most prominent eco-theologian (or "geologian") alive today.Earth. Berry explores the implications of our common creation story with regard to energy. Alfred B.nr . and more. Bill. Fritjof. Cogito is consistently excellent. Starratt. EarthSpirit: A Handbook for Nurturing an Ecological Christianity. Rich in Ends: Practicing Deep Ecology. Fox. 1990. WA 98110. It also points in the direction we must move to be saved from this fate. LaChapelle. A practical guide to withdrawing from addictive consumerism and living a profoundly down-to-earth lifestyle. New York: Pergamon Press. Greenspirit: Twelve Steps in Ecological Spirituality. a living system. Box 11470. Fox. a controversial Roman Catholic theologian. P. Rockport. Jantsch refers to the fact that the entire Universe. LaChance. 1990. 81433.. Fine Hill Arts. A first-rate journal about thinking and living in harmony with nature. The Coming of the Cosmic Christ. Evolution: The Grand Synthesis.Rapture of the Deep: Concerning Deep Ecology and Celebrating Life. Earth Festivals is a wonderful resource for parents and teachers. CO: 1973. This significant work examines the inner dynamism of the Universe from its origin through the development of humanity. La Cienega Blvd. 1987. Silverton. Erich. Boston: Shambhala. at all levels. Creation Spirituality. Silverton. In Context: A Quarterly Of Sustainable Culture. CO. CA 90211. and within human social systems. Toward a Transpersonal Ecology: Developing New Foundations for Environmentalism. Albert.O. developing whole. Ervin. He breaks a lot of new ground. Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality. Sacred Land Sacred Sex . can be understood as an organic.jagia-07146. Boston: Shambhala. Fine Hill Arts. A very readable synthesis of new natural and social Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. (800) 776-8300. Sacred Land Sacred Sex looks at how our Industrial Growth Society has brought the world to the brink of ecocide. with an exhausive bibliography.co. Fox. MA: Element Books. 1983. Suggests that the distinctive feature of deep ecology is the notion of an expansive identification with the natural world: Earth as our larger self. 1991. Santa Fe. Silverton. Timothy. An academic history and analysis of the deep ecology movement. Bainbridge Island. San Francisco: Harper Collins. CO: 1978. PO Box 542. (303) 387-5729. 1988. CO: 1988. Fine Hill Arts. Silverton. 1980. Earth Wisdom. This book is a powerful synthesis of the new cosmology and a twelve-step recovery process. Earth Festivals: Seasonal Celebrations for Everyone Young and Old. Jantsch. 1981.Ferris. 50 N. New Science Library. Dolores. NM: Bear & Company. Communicates what we know scientifically about the origin and nature of the universe in an exciting and understandable way.nr . explores the riches of the Christian tradition from the perspective of our new scientific cosmology. Laszlo. It may be the most provocative and comprehensive treatment of the topic anywhere. Warwick. Matthew. San Francisco: Harper & Row. San Francisco: Harper & Row. PBS Home Video. Context Institute. The Creation of the Universe (90 minute videotape). The Self-Organizing Universe: Scientific and Human Implications of the Emerging Paradigm of Evolution. A Spirituality Named Compassion. Beverly Hills. (707) 9964704.co. Box 925. despair work. Berkeley: Parallax Press.O. The Ages of Gaia: A Biography of Our Living Earth. Plant. P. book reviews. These books include the latest findings of scientists concerning Gaia. Rifkin also shows us how we must think and live if we are to survive into the future. New York: W. 1992. A collection of essays. 1990. Mills. World as Self. Mander. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers. Elisabet. was the originator of the Gaia hypothesis: the scientific understanding that the planet Earth. New Earth Education (3 hour videotape). Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age. In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations. Jerry. Lovelock. In Praise of Nature. Sonoma. Stephanie. New York: Harmony Books. Macy's work is a wonderful synthesis of experiential deep ecology. 1988. Biosphere Politics: A Cultural Odyssey from the Middle Ages to the New Age. D. Lovelock.: Island Press. A very helpful bibliographic source. enlightening and extremely important book. 1991. A disturbing. James E. as a whole. Each of these is an excellent popularization of the work of Thomas Berry. Norton & Company. They also point in the direction of planetary health. and quotes from some of the leading nature writers of this century. CA 95476. and The Fate of the Earth (90 minute audio tape).W.scientific perspectives on the nature of change within a self-organizing Universe. Both of these books contain a wealth of wisdom and compassion essential for the healing of our world.C. San Francisco: HarperCollins. New York: Pocket Books. Joanna. Sahtouris. contrasted with the ongoing struggle for survival of the native traditions. 1989. as a self-regulating organism. Global Perspectives. 1991. Christopher and Judith. A collection of interviews with some of the leading bioregionalists of our time. Miriam Therese. 1990. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. Washington. ed. general systems theory and engaged Buddhism. Turtle Talk: Voices for a Sustainable Future. rather than being merely a planet with life on it. A hard hitting critique of our modern technological society and the direction it is taking us. A good companion volume to LaChapelle's Sacred Land Sacred Sex. Rifkin. Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. Macy.nr . 1983. An excellent introduction to the Gaia theory . Philadelphia: New Society Publishers. MacGillis. Healing Gaia: Practical Medicine for the Planet.jagia-07146. A fascinating and most important look at how our changing notions of security have led us to the brink of ecological apocalypse.the scientific understanding that Earth itself is alive. in 1972. World as Lover. Earth Learning and Spirituality (5 hour videotape). Jeremy. is best understood as a living being. Gaia: The Human Journey from Chaos to Cosmos. 1991. Tides Foundation. group exercises. Gary Snyder provides deep insight and inspiration regarding "living in place. or for personal enrichment. New York: New Directions. New York: Viking Press. The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era. The Universe is a Green Dragon is an alluring introduction to the new cosmology. Arne Naess. and the Semitic traditions (Judaism. 1990. This collection of essays. Paul. Santa Fe: Bear & Company. Nature and Madness. 1977.Seed. Spretnak focuses on the wisdom of each of these traditions in light of the new cosmology. Goddess spirituality. Livermore. Canticle to the Cosmos is a 12-part video lecture series designed to be used for academic classes. Must reading. Gary." Spretnak. Joanna Macy. San Francisco: North Point Press. New York: Scribner. and poetry is an invaluable aid to personally experiencing the planet as one's larger self.nr . and clearly indicates the role of the human in this sacred story of life. Native American spirituality. Shepard. It is a telling of the story of the Universe with a feel for its spiritual dimensions. NewStory Project. The Practice of the Wild. Snyder. This book is already being hailed as perhaps one of the most significant works of the twentieth century. Swimme is a physicist who has studied extensively with Thomas Berry. It is excellent! Swimme. 1974. 134 Colleen St. CA 94550. 1973. The Universe is a Green Dragon: A Cosmic Creation Story. Brian and Thomas Berry. Christianity. 1992. Shepard's work is important in understanding the historic and paleohistoric causes of our estrangement from nature. Swimme. Turtle Island. 1984. small group study. This book is about reclaiming the core teachings and practices of Buddhism. 1978. and Islam) for the well-being of the Earth community as a whole. States of Grace: The Recovery of Meaning in the Postmodern Age. Charlene.co. San Francisco: City Light Books. His writings are forceful and insightful.jagia-07146. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers. In both his essays and his poetry. Canticle to the Cosmos. 1982. The Old Ways.. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. et. The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game. Brian. Thinking Like a Mountain: Towards a Council of All Beings. San Francisco: HarperCollins. Movies/Videos Bagdad Café Courage Under Fire The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain Ikiru The Karate Kid Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. 1988. al. John. Thinking Animals. Teenage Liberation Handbook) PO Box 1014 Eugene OR 97440 541-686-2315 Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www. #401 Dobbs Ferry. VA 22851 www. The Forum Graduate Association 6008 Wendron Way Alexandria.com New York 212-371-0280 (NY) 310-478-6677 (Los Angeles.com 914-674-4091 1-800-EL-TRUTH Conversations with God www. Inc.org 831-667-3000 (CA) 415-981-8850 (CA) 703-971-3693 The Forum Error! Bookmark not defined.nr . VA 22315-2656 fgainc@mnsinc. CA) Grace Llewellyn (homeschooling.com Hendricks Institute 1187 Coast Village Rd. CA) 619-544-9700 (San Diego.radicalhonesty. CA) 415-788-5500 (San Francisco.Little Big Man My Dinner With André Secrets and Lies Seven Samurai Websites/Workshops Arica Training/Arica Institute.conversationswithgod. Suite 1-416 Montecito. 145 Palisade St.com 805-565-1870 800-688-0772 The Learning Annex http://www.com Esalen Institute www.co.esalen.hendricks.jagia-07146. NY 10522-1617 Brad Blanton/Radical Honesty Enterprises 646 Shuler Lane Stanley. CA 93108 http://www.thelearningannex. org) 800-321-HIKE (Voyageur) 800-477-2627 (CO) 800-547-3312 (Pacific Crest.outwardbound. life planning) http://rockportinstitute.com/au Canada-Eastern. US) Australia.org 800-944-1001 800-341-1744 (East Coast.org/main/centers.htm) 619-793-1246 (CA) www.html Omega Institute 260 Lake Drive Rhinebeck.org/index.outwardbound. www.outwardbound.gov.ca/eastern. NY 12572 Omega-inst. coaching.pa.com/index.html Online for educational purposes at: JAG 07-146: www.html Singapore. MD.com 10124 Lakewood Drive Rockville. (career counseling.com/gracejanet/index. US) 800-841-0186 (NC) (www.co. Ltd. www. 20850 e-mail: [email protected] Outward Bound www.nz/index.aol.org 540-948-6544 (VA) The Pathwork Foundation 914-688-2211 (Northeast US) 13013 Colllingwood Terrace Silver Spring. www.nr .startsmall.http://hometown.pathwork.ca New Zealand.outwardbound.co.jagia-07146.outwardbound.lanminds.com 301-340-6600 (MD) Rowe Conference Center Greg Small/The Human Element www.html Pathworks Centers (pathwork. MD 20904-1414 Rockport Institute. www.ncobs.htm Canada-Western.com 413-339-4954 (New England) 916-985-8590 (CA) Thinking Allowed http://Spider12.sg/obsframe. www.